Shin'ya Obara Optimum Design of Renewable Energy Systems Microgrid and Nature Grid Methods PDF

Optimum Design of
Renewable Energy
Systems:
Microgrid and Nature Grid
Methods
Shinya Obara
Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
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Obara, Shinya.
Optimum design of renewable energy systems : microgrid and nature grid methods / by Shinya Obara.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4666-5796-0 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-5797-7 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-5799-1 (print & perpetual
access) 1. Renewable energy sources. 2. Electric power distribution. 3. Electric power systems--Design and construction.
4. Energy storage--Equipment and supplies. I. Title.
TJ808.O23 2014
621.042--dc23
2013051299
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Optimum Design of Renewable Energy Systems Microgrid and Nature Grid Methods
Shinya Obara (Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan)
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Table of Contents
Preface . ...............................................................................................................................................viii
Acknowledgment . ............................................................................................................................... xv
Chapter 1
Operating Schedule of a Combined Energy Network System . .............................................................. 1
General Introduction . ..................................................................................................................... 1
Operating Schedule of a Combined Energy Network System with Fuel Cell . .............................. 2
Fuel Cell Network System Considering Reduction in Fuel Cell Capacity Using Load .
Leveling and Heat Release Loss . ................................................................................................. 18
Chapter 2
Dynamic Characteristics of a Fuel Cell System and Microgrid ........................................................... 38
General Introduction . ................................................................................................................... 38
Load Response Characteristics of a Fuel Cell Microgrid with Control of Number of Units ....... 39
Dynamic Characteristics of a PEFCL System for Individual Houses .......................................... 53
Chapter 3
Effective Improvement in Generation Efficiency of a Fuel Cell Microgrid ......................................... 72
General Introduction . ................................................................................................................... 72
Effective Improvement in Generation Efficiency due to Partition Cooperation Management .
of a Fuel Cell Microgrid ............................................................................................................... 73
Equipment Plan of Compound Interconnection Microgrid Composed from Diesel Power .
Plants and Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell . ..................................................................... 87
Chapter 4
Installation Plan of a Fuel Cell Cogeneration System ........................................................................ 103
General Introduction . ................................................................................................................. 103
Installation Plan of a Fuel Cell Microgrid System Optimized by Maximizing Power .
Generation Efficiency ................................................................................................................. 104
Fuel Cell Network with Water Electrolysis for Improving Partial Load Efficiency of a
Residential Cogeneration System ............................................................................................... 118
Chapter 5
Fuel Cell Microgrid with Wind Power Generation . ........................................................................... 136
Analysis of a Fuel Cell Microgrid with a Small-Scale Wind Turbine Generator ....................... 137
Power Characteristics of a Fuel Cell Microgrid with Wind Power Generation ......................... 154
Chapter 6
Compound Microgrid of City-Gas Engine and Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell .................... 167
Amount of CO2 Discharged from Compound Microgrid of Hydrogenation City-Gas .
Engine and Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell . .................................................................. 168
Capacity Optimization of PEFCL and Hydrogen Mixing Gas-Engine Compound Generator . .... 181
Chapter 7
Independent Microgrid Composed of Distributed Engine Generator . ............................................... 198
Energy Cost of an Independent Microgrid with Control of Power Output Sharing of a .
Distributed Engine Generator ..................................................................................................... 199
Improvement of Power Generation Efficiency of an Independent Microgrid Composed of
Distributed Engine Generators ................................................................................................... 216
Chapter 8
Characteristics of PEFC / Woody Biomass Engine Hybrid Microgrid and Exergy Analysis . ........... 237
Dynamic Characteristics of PEFC / Woody Biomass Engine Hybrid Microgrid . ..................... 238
Exergy Analysis of the Woody Biomass Stirling Engine and PEFC Combined System with
Exhaust Heat Reforming ............................................................................................................ 250
Exergy Analysis of a Regional Distributed PEM Fuel Cell System . ......................................... 263
Chapter 9
Design Support Using a Neural Network Algorithm . ........................................................................ 282
Dynamic Operational Scheduling Algorithm for an Independent Microgrid with .
Renewable Energy ...................................................................................................................... 283
Operation Prediction of a Bioethanol Solar Reforming System using a Neural Network ......... 300
Chapter 10
Microgrid with Numerical Weather Information ................................................................................ 321
Compound Microgrid Installation Operation Planning of a PEFC and Photovoltaics with
Prediction of Electricity Production using GA and Numerical Weather Information ................ 322
Energy Supply Characteristics of a Combined Solar Cell and Diesel Engine System with a
Prediction Algorithm for Solar Power Generation ..................................................................... 335
Chapter 11
SOFC-PEFC Combined Microgrid . ................................................................................................... 352
Power Generation Efficiency of Photovoltaics and a SOFC-PEFC Combined Microgrid .
with Time Shift Utilization of the SOFC Exhaust Heat ............................................................. 353
Power Generation Efficiency of an SOFC-PEFC Combined System with Time Shift .
Utilization of SOFC Exhaust Heat ............................................................................................. 367
Chapter 12
Bioethanol Solar Reforming System for Distributed Fuel Cell .......................................................... 385
Hydrogen Production Characteristics of a Bioethanol Solar Reforming System with Solar
Insolation Fluctuations ............................................................................................................... 386
Efficiency Analysis of a Combined PEFC and Bioethanol-Solar-Reforming System for
Individual Houses ....................................................................................................................... 399
Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 417
About the Contributors..................................................................................................................... 427
Index.................................................................................................................................................... 428
viii
Preface
Control of global warming is a common subject in the world. Therefore, the challengers of various fields
are considering methods to control global warming. Microgrid technology is expected as a next-gener-
ation energy supply system. However, since renewable energy is unstable, in many cases, it requires
support by the conventional energy equipment. We are investigating the compound energy system from
the following two viewpoints. One is the development of highly efficient energy storage equipment
represented by a battery and heat-storage tank. Another is development of the operation optimization
technology of the compound energy system including green energy. It is thought that the energy supply
method shifts from the individual operation of large-scale plant to distribution of small equipment or
microgrid. Moreover, a microgrid develops into a smart-grid by various added values with IT technol-
ogy. On the other hand, it was predicted that the reduction technology of the greenhouse gas of a microgrid
progressed sharply, and we named the nature-grid. A microgrid, a smart grid, and a nature-grid require
fusion of energy technology and an information technology. For example, the operation in consideration
of the green energy change with load prediction and weather prediction of a compound energy system
can be planned. This book describes the operation optimization technology by compound utilization of
a PEFC, PEFC-SOFC combined system, bio-ethanol solar reforming, wind-power generation, woody
biomass engine, city-gas engine, diesel power plant, etc. The technology described in this book plays a
large role in the development of a small-scale power-generation system, a microgrid, a smart-grid, and
a nature-grid, which are introduced into individual houses, apartment houses or local area power sup-
plies.
The book is organized into twelve chapters. A brief description of each of the chapters follows:
Chapter 1 has described operating schedule of a combined energy network system. In the 1st section,
the chromosome model showing system operation pattern is applied to GA (genetic algorithm), and the
method of optimization operation planning of energy system is developed. The optimization method
of this operation planning was applied to the compound system of methanol steam reforming type fuel
cell, geo-thermal heat pump and the electrolysis tank of water. The operation planning was performed
for the energy system using the energy demand pattern of the individual residence of Sapporo in Japan.
From analysis results, the amount of outputs of a solar module and the relation of the operation cost of
the system which are changed by the weather were clarified. In the 2nd section, reduction in fuel cell
capacity linked to a fuel cell network system is considered. An optimization plan is made to minimize
the quantity of heat release of the hot water piping that connects each building. Such an energy network
is analyzed assuming connection of individual houses, a hospital, a hotel, a convenience store, an office
building, and a factory. Consequently, a reduction of 46% of fuel cell capacity is expected compared
with the conventional system in the case study.
ix
Chapter 2 has described characteristics of a fuel cell system and microgrid. In the 1st section, the dy-
namic characteristics and generation efficiency of a microgrid structured from 17 houses were examined. A
gas engine generator with a power generation capacity of 3 kW installed in a house is made to correspond
to the base load, and a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PECF) with a power generation capacity of
1 kW is installed in 16 houses. Moreover, when changing the load of a microgrid, the correspondence
takes place by controlling the number of fuel cells. Using numerical analysis, the characteristics of the
power quality of a fuel cell microgrid, and the generation efficiency of the fuel cell were examined. As a
result, the relationship between the parameter of the controller and power quality and a fall in generation
efficiency by a partial load were clarified. In the 2nd section, the method of determination of the control
variables for a system controller, which controls the electric power output of a solid-polymer-membrane
fuel cell system (PEFC) during electric power load fluctuations, was considered. The power load pattern
of an individual house consists of loads usually moved up and down rapidly for a short time. This section
investigates the relation of the control variables and power generation efficiency when adding change
that simulates the load of a house to PEFC cogeneration. As a result, it was shown that an operation,
minimally influenced by load fluctuations, can be performed by changing the control variables using
the value of the electric power load of a system.
Chapter 3 has described effective improvement in generation efficiency of a fuel cell microgrid. The
fuel cell microgrid is expected as a distributed power supply with little environmental impact. In the 1st
section, a microgrid is divided into multiple and each is optimized for the purpose of maximization of
power generation efficiency. In the cooperation management of a microgrid, large fluctuations in load,
or increases and decreases in a building, can be followed with a grid using a system-interconnection
device. The system proposed in this section obtained results with high generation efficiency (from 21.1%
to 27.6%) compared with the central system (generation efficiency is 20.6% to 24.8%) of a fuel cell mi-
crogrid. In the 2nd section, an independent microgrid that compounds and connects a diesel power plant
generator (DEG) and a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEFC) is proposed. The operation of DEG
is controlled to correspond to the base load of whole CIM (Compound Interconnection microgrid), and,
on the other hand, the operation of PEFC is controlled to follow the load fluctuation of CIM. A com-
plex community model and residential area model were used for analysis. In this section, the microgrid
concerning the urban area (18 buildings) in Tokyo was investigated. From the results of analysis, it was
confirmed that CIM could be operated with a high generation efficiency of 27.1 to 29.9%.
Chapter 4 has described installation plan of a fuel cell cogeneration system. If energy-supplying
microgrids can be arranged to operate with maximal efficiency, this will have a significant influence
on the generation efficiency of the grid and will reduce greenhouse gas production. A means of opti-
mizing the microgrid needs to be developed. In the 1st section, microgrids that use proton exchange
membrane-type fuel cells (PEFC) may significantly reduce the environmental impact when compared
with traditional power plants. The amount of power supplied to the grid divided by the heating value of
the fuel is defined as the system generation efficiency. We find that when a set of PEFCs and a natural
gas reformer are connected to the microgrid in an urban area, the annual generation efficiency of the
system slightly exceeds 20%. When a PEFC follows the electricity demand pattern of a house, it operates
at a partial load most of the time, resulting in a low efficiency of the microgrid. A method of improv-
ing the generation efficiency of a fuel cell microgrid is proposed, where a supply system of power and
heat with a high energy efficiency are constructed. In this section, a method of installing two or more
microgrids is proposed (known as the partition cooperation system). The grids can be connected in an
urban area to maximize generation efficiency. Numerical analysis shows that the system proposed in this
x
section (which has an annual generation efficiency of 24.6 to 27.6%) has a higher generation efficiency
than conventional PEFC systems (central generating systems have annual generation efficiencies of 20.6
to 24.8%). In the 2nd section, fuel cell energy network which connects hydrogen and oxygen gas pipes,
electric power lines and exhaust heat output lines of the fuel cell cogeneration for individual houses,
respectively is analyzed. As an analysis case, the energy demand patterns of individual houses in Tokyo
are used, and the analysis method for minimization of the operational cost using a genetic algorithm is
described. The fuel cell network system of an analysis example assumed connecting the fuel cell co-
generation of five houses. If energy is supplied to the five houses using the fuel cell energy network
proposed in this study, 9% of city gas consumption will be reduced by the maximum from the results
of analysis. 2% included to 9% is an effect of introducing water electrolysis operation of the fuel cells,
corresponding to partial load operation of fuel cell co-generation.
Chapter 5 has described fuel cell microgrid with wind power generation. Since the output of renew-
able energy is unstable, other energy equipment needs to cover the stability of output. Thus, in the 1st
section, the operating conditions of an independent microgrid that supplies power with natural power
sources and fuel cells are investigated. If electric power is supplied using an independent microgrid
connected to renewable energy, it can flexibly match the energy demand characteristics of a local area.
The output of wind power generation and fuel cells is controlled by proportional-integral control of an
independent microgrid for rapid power demand change. An independent microgrid that connects with
renewable energy has the potential to reduce energy costs, and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas dis-
charge. However, the frequency and voltage of a microgrid may not be stable over a long time due to the
input of unstable renewable energy, and changes in short-period power load that are difficult to predict.
Thus, when planning the installation of a microgrid in the 2nd section, it is necessary to investigate the
dynamic characteristics of the power. About the microgrid composed from ten houses, a 2.5kW proton
exchange membrane fuel cell is installed in one building, and this fuel cell operated corresponding to a
base load is assumed. A 1kW PEFC is installed in other seven houses, in addition a 1.5kW wind turbine
generator is installed. The microgrid to investigate connects these generating equipments, and supplies
the power to each house. The dynamic characteristics of this microgrid were investigated in numerical
analysis, and the cost of fuel consumption and efficiency was also calculated. Moreover, the stabiliza-
tion time of the microgrid and its dynamic characteristics accompanied by wind-power-generation and
fluctuation of the power load were clarified.
Chapter 6 has described CO2 discharged from compound microgrid of hydrogenation city-gas engine
and fuel cell. The independent microgrid is considered to be a technology in which maximum distributed
energy is realizable. However, there are many subjects, such as the stability of the dynamic character-
istics of power and development of an optimal design method. If the fuel cell system of the capacity
corresponding to a load peak is installed, equipment cost will be high and energy cost will not be able
to get any profile commercially. By increasing the hydrogen concentration at the time of low load, the
power-generation efficiency of a city-gas-engine-generator (NEG) improves, and carbon dioxide emis-
sions decrease. So, in the 1st section, a microgrid composed from a PEFC and a hydrogenation city gas
engine was investigated using numerical simulation. The system with a small load factor of NEG and
with a large load factor of PEFC system has few CO2 emissions. The system which combined base-
load operation of PEFC and load fluctuation operation of hydrogenation city gas engine is the most
advantageous for the comprehensive evaluation of equipment cost, power generation efficiency, and
CO2 emissions. When the optimal system was installed into the urban area model of 20 buildings and
analyzed, power generation efficiency was 25% and CO2 emissions were 1,106 kg/Day. Distribution of
xi
the independent energy source can be optimized with regionality in mind. The 2nd section examines the
independent power supply system relating to hydrogen energy. Generally speaking, the power demand
of a house tends to fluctuate considerably over the course of a day. Therefore, when introducing fuel
cell cogeneration into an apartment house, etc., low-efficiency operations in a low-load region occur
frequently in accordance with load fluctuation. Consequently, the hybrid cogeneration system (HCGS)
that uses a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell fuel cell (PEFC) and a hydrogen mixture gas engine
(NEG) together to improve power generation efficiency during partial load of fuel cell cogeneration is
proposed. In this section, HCGS is introduced into 10 household apartments in Tokyo, and the power
generation efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions and optimal capacity of a boiler and heat storage tank
are investigated through analysis. Analysis revealed that the annual average power generation efficiency
when the capacity of PEFC and NEG is 5 kW was 27.3%. Meanwhile, the annual average power genera-
tion efficiency of HCGS is 1.37 times that of the PEFC independent system, and 1.28 times that of the
NEG independent system respectively.
Chapter 7 has described independent microgrid composed of distributed engine generator. In the 1st
section, small kerosene diesel-engine power generators are introduced into an independent microgrid
(IMG) that connects 20 houses, and power and heat are supplied to them. A 3 kW engine generator is
installed in six houses, and a boiler and a heat storage tank are also installed, and exhaust heat to make
up for insufficiency is supplied. The boiler is installed in the house that does not install the engine
generator, and heat is supplied to the demand side. Partial load operation of the engine generator has a
large influence on power generation efficiency. Therefore, this section discusses the system that controls
the power of the engine generator by the power distribution control system using the genetic algorithm
(GA), and the control system that changes the number of operations of the engine generators accord-
ing to the magnitude of the power load. As a case study, the energy-demand model of the 20 houses in
Sapporo was analyzed. As a result, the annual energy cost of the number of operations system and the
power distribution control system is reducible with 16% and 8% compared with the conventional method,
respectively. However, it depends for this cutback effect on the heat demand characteristic greatly, and
when the proposed system is introduced into a community with little heat demand, effectiveness will
decrease greatly. In the 2nd section, the power generation efficiency and power cost of an independent
microgrid that distributes the power from a small diesel engine power generator was investigated using
numerical analysis. The independent microgrid built using one to six sets of 20 average houses in Sap-
poro and the distributed engine generators were examined using these test results. When a diesel engine
power generator is distributed, since the power generation capacity per set decreases compared with the
central system, the load factor of each engine generator rises. As a result, the operation of an engine at
partial load with low efficiency can be reduced. When the number of distributions of the engine genera-
tor increases as a result of numerical analysis, the cost of the fuel decreases.
Chapter 8 has described characteristics of PEFC / woody biomass engine hybrid microgrid and exergy
analysis. The combustion exhaust heat of woody biomass engine using Stirling cycle is high temperature.
So, in the 1st section, this exhaust heat is used for the city gas reforming reaction of a proton exchange
membrane fuel cell (PEFC) system. The woody biomass engine generator has the characteristic that
the greenhouse gas amount of emission with power generation is greatly reducible. In this study, the
microgrid system that introduces PEFC / woody biomass engine hybrid cogeneration (PWHC) is pro-
posed. It depends on the dynamic characteristics of the grid for the power quality at the time of load
fluctuation being added to the microgrid. Especially, the dynamic characteristics of the independent
microgrid are important on security of power quality. So, in this section, the response characteristic of
xii
PEFC and woody biomass engine was investigated by the experiment and the numerical analysis. Fur-
thermore, the response characteristic of the PWHC independent microgrid including auxiliary machinery
was investigated by the numerical simulation. Moreover, an improvement of dynamic characteristics is
proposed using the method of adding proportional-plus-integral control to PWHC. If woody biomass
engine is introduced into a house, 10.2s will be required to stabilize power quality at the maximum. On
the other hand, when woody biomass engine corresponds to a base load and PEFC corresponds to the
load exceeding the base load, settling time is less than 1.6 s. In this study, relation between the system
configuration of the PWHC microgrid and the dynamic characteristices of the power was clarified. The
woody biomass Stirling engine (WB-SEG) is an external combustion engine that outputs high-temperature
exhaust gases. It is necessary to improve the exergy efficiency of WB-SEG from the viewpoint of energy
cascade utilization. In the 2nd section, a combined system that uses the exhaust heat of WB-SEG for the
steam reforming of city gas and that supplies the produced reformed gas to a proton exchange membrane
fuel cell (PEFC) is proposed. The energy flow and the exergy flow were analyzed for each WB-SEG,
PEFC, and WB-SEG / PEFC combined system. Exhaust heat recovery to preheat fuel and combustion
air was investigated in each system. In the 3rd section, the exergy flow and exergy efficiency of a 3kW
PEFC were investigated, and the regional characteristic of the distributed energy system was considered.
In the environmental temperature range of 263K to 313K, the difference of the total efficiency of the
proposed system was 6%. On the other hand, the difference of the exergy total efficiency of the same
temperature range was 30%. Moreover, as a result of examining how to improve the exergy efficiency
of this system, certain improvement methods were proposed. (a) Preheat the city-gas and air supplied
to the system using exhaust heat, and raise the combustion temperature, (b) Preheat the water supplied
to the system using exhaust heat, (c) Change the catalyst material of each unit and reduce the amount
of cooling of the reformed gas, (d) Examination of combined cycle power generation. The exergy ef-
ficiency, in the case of introducing the proposed system into individual homes in Sapporo, Tokyo, and
Kagoshima in Japan was evaluated. Consequently, when the system was introduced into a community
with low outside air temperatures, exergy efficiency increased compared with communities with high
outside air temperatures.
Chapter 9 has described the design support using a neural network algorithm. A microgrid with
the capacity for sustainable energy is expected to be a distributed energy system that exhibits quite a
small environmental impact. In an independent microgrid, green energy, which is typically thought
of as unstable, can be utilized effectively by introducing a battery. In the past study, the production-of-
electricity prediction algorithm (PAS) of the solar cell was developed. In 1st section, a layered neural
network is made to learn based on past weather data and the operation plan of the compound system
of a solar cell and other energy systems was examined using this prediction algorithm. In this study,
a dynamic operational scheduling algorithm is developed using a neural network (PAS) and a genetic
algorithm (GA) to provide predictions for solar cell power output. We also do a case study analysis in
which we use this algorithm to plan the operation of a system that connects nine houses in Sapporo
to a microgrid composed of power equipment and a polycrystalline silicon solar cell. In this work, the
relationship between the accuracy of output prediction of the solar cell and the operation plan of the
microgrid was clarified. Moreover, we found that operating the microgrid according to the plan derived
with PAS was far superior, in terms of equipment hours of operation, to that using past average weather
data. In the 2nd section, the bioethanol reforming system (FBSR) using sunlight as a heat source is de-
scribed. FBSR is a fuel production system for fuel cells with little environmental impact. An operation
prediction program of the FBSR using a layered neural network (NN) with the error-correction learning
xiii
method has been developed. The weather pattern (the amount of global solar radiation and the outside
air temperature) and energy-demand pattern for the past one year are inputted into the NN. Moreover,
training signals are calculated by a genetic algorithm. The training signals are given to the NN, and the
operation pattern of the FBSR is made to learn. As a result of analyzing using the developed algorithm,
when 20% or less of power load fluctuation occurred, the operation plan was analyzable in 14% or less
of error span. On the other hand, in operation prediction when 50% or less of fluctuation is added to
the outside temperature and global solar radiation, there was 16% or less analysis error.
Chapter 10 has described Microgrid with Numerical Weather Information. A fuel cell microgrid with
photovoltaics effectively reduces greenhouse gas emission. A system operation optimization technique
with photovoltaics and unstable power is important. In the 1st section, the optimal operation algorithm
of this compound microgrid is developed using numerical weather information (NWI) that is freely
available. A GA (genetic algorithm) was developed to minimize system fuel consumption. Furthermore,
the relation between the NWI error characteristics and the operation results of the system was clarified.
As a result, the optimized operation algorithm using NWI reduced the energy cost of the system.The
production of electricity from the solar cells continues to attract interest as a power source for distrib-
uted energy generation. It is important to be able to estimate solar cell power to optimize system energy
management. The 2nd section proposes a prediction algorithm based on a neural network (NN) to pre-
dict the electricity production from a solar cell. The operation plan for a combined solar cell and diesel
engine generator system is examined using the NN prediction algorithm. Two systems are examined in
this section: one with and one without a power storage facility. Comparisons are presented of the results
from the two systems with respect to the actual calculations of output power and the predicted electricity
production from the solar cell. The exhaust heat from the engine is used to supply the heat demand. A
back-up boiler is operated when the engine exhaust heat is insufficient to meet the heat demand. Elec-
tricity and heat are supplied to the demand side from the proposed systems, and no external sources are
used. When the NN production-of-electricity prediction was introduced, the engine generator operating
time was reduced by 12.5% in December and 16.7% for March and September. Moreover, an operation
plan for the combined system exhaust heat is proposed, and the heat output characteristics of the back-
up boiler are characterized.
Chapter 11 has described SOFC-PEFC Combined Microgrid. In the 1st section, the combined sys-
tem of a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEFC) is examined.
The proposed system consists of a SOFC-PEFC combined system and a photovoltaic system (PV) as
the energy supply to a microgrid. The exhaust heat of the SOFC is used for the steam reforming of the
bio-ethanol gas with time shift utilization of the exhaust heat of the SOFC in optional time. The SOFC-
PEFC combined system with the PV was introduced in a microgrid of 30 residences in Sapporo, Japan.
The operation plan of the system has three cases: without solar power, with 50% and with 100% of
solar output power. Moreover, three types of system operation of using the SOFC independent opera-
tion, PEFC independent operation and SOFC-PEFC combined system are used to supply the demand
side. A comparative study between the types of system operation is presented. The power generation
efficiency is investigated for different load patterns: average load pattern, compressed load pattern and
extended load pattern. This study reported that the power generation efficiencies of the proposed sys-
tem in consideration of these load patterns are 27% to 48%. In the 2nd section, a microgrid, with little
environmental impact, is developed by introducing a combined SOFC and PEFC system. This section
is investigated the operation of a SOFC-PEFC combined system, with time shift operation of reformed
gas, into a microgrid with 30 houses in Sapporo, Japan. The SOFC is designed to correspond to base
xiv
load operation, and the exhaust heat of the SOFC is used for production of reformed gas. This reformed
gas is used for the production of electricity for the PEFC, corresponding to fluctuation load of the next
day. The relation between operation method, power generation efficiency, and amount of heat storage of
the SOFC-PEFC combined system to the difference in power load pattern was investigated. The average
power generation efficiency of the system can be maintained at nearly 48% on a representative day in
February (winter season) and August (summer season).
Chapter 12 has described bioethanol solar reforming system for distributed fuel cell.
The 1st section has described hydrogen production of a bioethanol solar reforming system for dis-
tributed fuel cell. The development of a bioethanol steam reforming system (FBSR) is considered as a
means of distributing energy using PEFCs. Small-scale solar collectors (collection areas on the order
of several m2) are installed in a house as a method for applying the FBSR. However, the temperature
distribution of a reforming catalyst fluctuates under conditions of unstable solar insolation. Therefore,
heat transfer analysis applied in reforming the catalyst layer of the reactor and the temperature distribu-
tion and transient response characteristics of the gas composition of the process were investigated. In
the 2nd section, the development of a bioethanol reforming system for fuel cells (FBSR) using sunlight
as a heat source was investigated. The system was investigated using the experimental result of catalyst
performance, and numerical analysis. The overall efficiency of the production of electricity and heat power
of this system was determined by examining its thermal output characteristic. The FBSR was introduced
into standard individual houses in Sapporo, Japan for analysis. The amount of hydrogen production,
the production-of-electricity characteristic, and the thermal output characteristic were examined using
meteorological data on representative days in March and August. As a result, the overall efficiency of
the system, defined as the rate of power and heat output compared to the amount of solar heat collected,
was calculated to be 47.4% and 41.9% on the representative days in March and August, respectively.
xv
Acknowledgment
Special thanks also go to the publishing team at IGI Global, Ms. Jan Travers, Allyson Gard, Ms. Chris-
tine Smith, Ms. Erika L. Carter, Ms. Emily E. Golesh, and Mr. Mike Killian, whose contributions
throughout the whole process from inception of the initial idea to final publication have been invaluable.
In particular to Jan Travers, who assisted in keeping this project on schedule.
Shinya Obara
Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
October 2013
1
Chapter 1
Operating Schedule
of a Combined Energy
Network System
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Operating Schedule of a Combined Energy Network System with
Fuel Cell and Fuel Cell Network System Considering Reduction in Fuel Cell Capacity Using Load
Leveling and Heat Release Loss. The chromosome model showing system operation pattern is applied
to GA (genetic algorithm), and the method of optimization operation planning of energy system is devel-
oped in the 1st section. In the case study, the operation planning was performed for the energy system
using the energy demand pattern of the individual residence of Sapporo, Japan. Reduction in fuel cell
capacity linked to a fuel cell network system is considered in the 2nd section. Such an energy network
is analyzed assuming connection of individual houses, a hospital, a hotel, a convenience store, an office
building, and a factory.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION the individual residence of Sapporo, Japan. From

analysis results, the amount of outputs of a solar
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. The module and the relation of the operation cost of
optimization method of this operation planning the system which are changed by the weather were
was applied to the compound system of methanol clarified. The representation day in February of
steam reforming type fuel cell, geo-thermal heat the ratio of the operation cost in case of (0% of
pump and the electrolysis tank of water. In the case output rates) the rainy weather to the time of fine
study, the operation planning was performed for the weather (100% of output rates) is 1.12. And the
energy system using the energy demand pattern of representation day in July is 1.71. Furthermore, the
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch001
Copyright 2014, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Operating Schedule of a Combined Energy Network System
optimal capacity of accumulation-of-electricity cooperative operation of complex energy devices,

and thermal storage was estimated, and they are it is necessary to solve the nonlinear problem of
308MJ and 23MJ, respectively. many variables with objective functions provided
The summary of the 2nd section is as follows. beforehand. In the optimization calculations of
When the power demand of the whole network is system operational planning of a complex energy
small, some of the electric power generated by the system, linear approximation calculations based
fuel cell is supplied to a water electrolysis device, on the mixed-integer plan-making method was
and hydrogen and oxygen gases are generated. used (Ito, Shibata, & Yokoyama, 2002). However,
Both gases are compressed with each compres- to analyze the operational planning of a complex
sor and they are stored in cylinders. When the energy system with high accuracy, it is necessary to
electric demand of the whole network is large, solve the nonlinear problem with many variables.
both gases are supplied to the network, and fuel Until now, the operation planning of an energy
cells are operated by these hydrogen and oxygen system has been managed as a linear problem.
gases. Furthermore, an optimization plan is made So, in this Section, the method of analyzing a
to minimize the quantity of heat release of the hot compound energy system by many variables and
water piping that connects each building. Such an nonlinearity is developed.
energy network is analyzed assuming connection A genetic algorithm (Goldberg, 1989) is there-
of individual houses, a hospital, a hotel, a con- fore introduced to analyze operational planning
venience store, an office building, and a factory. in this Section. Previously, an analysis method
Consequently, compared with the conventional of a large-scale energy system that combined a
system, a reduction of 46% of fuel cell capacity genetic algorithm and an annealing algorithm
is expected. (Hongmei et al., 2000) was developed (Srinivas
& Patnaik, 1994; Fujiki. et al., 1997; Yu et al.,
2000). However, an analysis method that optimizes
OPERATING SCHEDULE OF A the operational pattern with the application of a
COMBINED ENERGY NETWORK genetic algorithm (GA) to the compound system
SYSTEM WITH FUEL CELL built using an active energy device, a renewable
enegy device, and an unutilized energy device
Introduction has not yet been developed. In this Section, a GA
analysis method for a compound energy system is
Until now, various energy devices with individual developed as a preliminary survey of the energy
controls have been used in buildings. However, network that conducts cooperative operation. The
renewable energy and unused energy are positively analysis software using GA developed in this
utilized from the viewpoint of global environment Section is introduced in an individual house in
problems from now on. In order to utilize renew- Sapporo, Japan, which is a cold, snowy area, and
able energy and unused energy, it is necessary to the operational plan is investigated. The opera-
use active energy device for stabilization of an tional planning of the compound energy system
energy output. The object of study is to develop is analyzed using the minimization of operational
the method of the operation plan and optimum costs and the maximization of renewable energy
design of the combined system of active energy use, and the operational planning of an active
device and unutilized energy. The energy network energy device is considered. Although operation
is structured using an electric power system, a hot costs and facility costs need to be considered for
water system, and a fuel system. For the opera- a feasibility study of the system, the facility costs
tional plan of the energy network that conducts the of a proton exchange membrane (PEFC) fuel cell
2
are changing greatly. Since estimating facility each energy device. In this system, the opera-
costs is difficult, the analysis in this Section only tional state of each energy device linked to LAN,
considers operation costs. Furthermore, the device weather information and maintenance information
capacity for the accumulation of electricity and can be communicated to the outside.
thermal storage is estimated.
The Combined Energy System
System Description
A feasibility study of the operational planning
Network of Distributed Energy Devices analysis method of the energy network with
cooperative control, shown in Figure 1(a), is the
In a dispersed arrangement of small energy target of this Section. The analysis method in the
devices, a reduction in power transmission loss case of operating the compound energy system
and heat dissipation loss is expected. Since the consisting of an active energy device, a renew-
discharge of carbon dioxide is predicted, renewable able energy device, and an unutilized energy
energy devices and unutilized energy devices are device has been developed. Figure 1(c) shows
connected along with established active energy the model of the compound energy system. The
devices in an energy network, and research on sup- analysis method for operational planning using
plying energy to two or more houses is required. A GA has been developed to minimize costs, and
network model of the fuel cell cogeneration (CGS) the estimated device capacities and an operational
installed in individual houses, as assumed for the plan for a complex energy system are determined.
final target of this research, is shown in Figure
1(a). The fuel cell CGS installed in each house is The Combined Energy
connected with hydrogen gas system piping, an System to be Assumed
electric system power line, and hot water piping
of an exhaust heat system. The hot water system A block diagram of the energy system for houses
recovers heat from fuel cells and supplies thermal adopted in this study is shown in Figure 1(a).
energy to individual houses. Hot water flows in In this system, methanol fuel is stored, and its
one direction, as shown by the arrows in Figure distributed power supply is also possible in the
1(a). The energy devices are connected to the residential areas of local cities where the city
electric power and thermal energy network, and gas piping networks are not well developed. In
the operational planning of a system that fulfills individual houses and apartments, load changes
the energy demands of individual buildings is are sharp and abrupt, and partial load operation
considered. The energy devices installed in each of the energy system increases (Obara et al.,
house were controlled by autonomous distribution. 2005). Therefore, to improve energy efficiency,
The objective of an energy network is to control a dynamic operational plan for the energy system
the devices linked to the network cooperatively, is required, wherein thermal storage and electric
and to obtain a better effect than conventional energy storage are introduced. A water electrolytic
autonomous distribution control. bath and gas tanks are added to the electric power
Figure 1(b) shows a model of the cooperative storage device, and electric power generated with
operational control of an energy network. The a fuel cell and a solar cell is supplied to the water
control device of the energy network is composed electrolysis bath. Since the output of a solar cell
of a computer, a communication device, and a changes according to the weather, the operational
LAN that communicates control information for plan is defined by considering the amount of power
3
Figure 1. Combined energy network system
4
generation as a variable. Furthermore, when in- AC converter (8), and demand is fulfilled; (b)
stalling the fuel cell cogeneration system in houses Hydrogen and oxygen are generated in the water
in cold regions, since the supply of heat energy electrolyzer (5) and stored in a hydrogen tank (6)
is insufficient, there is additional combined use and an oxygen tank (7), respectively; (c) Electric
of the geothermal heat pump system. power is changed into heat by an electric heater
(9) in a thermal storage tank (10). It is possible
Operation Method of Combined to drive a fuel cell at any time using the stored
Energy System hydrogen and oxygen. Selecting the appropriate
energy supply path among (a) to (c) above is also
Figure 2(a) shows the compound energy system possible for electric power generated by the solar
for individual houses, and is investigated by this cell. Because the capacity of a water electrolyzer
study. Active energy device is a fuel cell with a and a thermal storage tank differs in the opera-
methanol reformer, and unutilized energy device tion plan of a system, they are determined from
is a solar module and a geo-thermal heat pump. analysis output. However, electric power from the
This Section does not describe the equipment system to the demand side is supplied only via
cost of the system of Figure 2(a). The equipment one of the following systems, without multiple
cost of PEFC and unutilized energy device is not supply sources: (a) Methanol fuel is reformed to
commercially realized in the present condition. generate hydrogen, which is supplied to a fuel
However, such equipment costs may be reduced cell, and electric power is generated; (b) Electric
rapidly from now on. Therefore, it is necessary power is generated by the solar cell; (c) Stored
to investigate the operation plan of a compound hydrogen and oxygen, formed by water electroly-
energy system. Methanol fuel (mole ratio of sis, are used in the fuel cell to generate electric
methanol/water = 1.0/1.4), which is contained in power. In order to reduce the discharge of carbon
the methanol tank (3), is supplied to the reformer dioxide, methanol fuel is not used to the extent
(2), and hydrogen and carbon dioxide are formed. possible. Therefore, as many renewable energy
The methanol reformer is always warmed up. supply sources as possible are used with priority
The piping system of hydrogen and reformed gas set in decreasing order to be (b), (c) and (a).
assumes use of a stainless steel tube. The specifi- A thermal storage tank has the following three
cation of the reformer and the fuel cell stack was heat input sources: (a) Exhaust heat from a fuel
shown in Table 1. The heat source of the reformer cell and the reformer; (b) Heat conversion of the
drives the catalytic combustion of methanol, and electric power generated by the fuel cell and the
the air for combustion is supplied by the blower. solar cell; (c) Heat generated by the geothermal
The reformed gas generated by the methanol steam heat pump (11). The low-temperature source of
reformer is sent to the anodes, air is supplied to heat pump is obtained from a bore hole with a
the cathodes by a blower, and electricity is gener- depth of 30m installed in soil. And maximum
ated by the PEFC (1). The energy supply path for output is 12 kW and COP is 3. However, when
this system is shown in Figure 2(b). The electric the heat input exceeds the thermal storage capac-
power generated by the fuel cell is supplied us- ity, some of the surplus is released. After the heat
ing one of the following methods: (a) Alternating from the thermal storage tank heats city water via
current electric power is generated by the DC/ the heat medium inside the thermal storage tank,
5
Figure 2. Outline of the proposal system
it is supplied to the demand side. A thermal stor- Analysis

age medium is water and the maximum tempera-
ture of thermal storage is 353 K. Analysis Method Using
For the specifications of other system compo- Genetic Algorithm (GA)
nent devices, we used the values shown in Table 1,
which are typical for houses in cold regions such 1. Indication of Device Operation by the
as Sapporo. Since a geothermal heat pump was Chromosome Model
used, the capacity of a fuel cell was set at 4.2 kW. Figure 3(a) shows the chromosome model intro-
With respect to device costs, installing a complex duced in GA, and expresses information on elec-
energy system such as shown for individual houses tric energy output E D ,t for each time tk of
in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b) is difficult.
i k
device Di , heat output H D ,t , amount of electric

i k
6
Table 1. Energy device initial specifications
energy storage S E ,D ,t , amount of thermal storage Although a number of chromosome models N dv'
i k
Sst ,D ,t , and device selection switch SW ,D ,t are created as an initial generation, either 0 or 1
i k i k
is selected. If the value of the random number is
using the gene model with 0 and 1 (Obara and less than 0.5, the gene model is set at 0, and 1 is
Kudo, 2003). When two or more devices do not selected if the random number is 0.5 or more.
yield a simultaneous energy supply, SW ,D ,t is
i k
introduced in order to select the device that sup- 2. Production, Selection and Reproduction
plies energy. As the chromosome model deter- The fitness values of the number of N dv' chromo-
mined above expresses the operational pattern of some model groups (they indicate the patterns of
the device from tk to tk +1 . As shown in Figure the system operation) of an initial generation are
3(b), sets of the chromosome model of each sam- calculated, and proliferation or selection is judged
pling time of k = 0, 1, 2, , R represent all the based on the values. The combination method is
introduced in the calculation of the ranking selec-
operational patterns for operational period R .
7
Figure 3. Chromosome model
tion (Baker, 1985) and roulette selection (Gold- it. In the calculation of crossover, two parent
berg, 1989). In the first reproduction calculation, chromosomes are chosen by probability Pcros ,
the chromosome models of the initial generation parent chromosomes are combined, and one child
are selected based on the number of N dv (here, chromosome is generated in the intersection posi-
N dv' > N dv ), and these chromosome models are tion decided at random. Subsequently, the calcu-
used in subsequent calculations. lation process of the mutation described below is
added. In the mutation, parent chromosome mod-
3. Crossover and Mutation of the Chromo- els are chosen at random using probability Pmut ,
some Model and the number and the position of the genes of
The calculation process of crossover and mutation the parent chromosomes are also decided at ran-
is given to the chromosome model group, and the dom. If the original value of a gene is 1, it has to
diversity of genes is maintained. Using the cal- change to 0, and if it is 0, it has to change to 1. In
culation for the last generation, the chromosome order to progress to the next generation, the fitness
model with the best fit is determined as the opti- value is again evaluated with respect to all the
mal operational pattern. However, the number of operational patterns of number N dv with added
generations in the analysis is decided beforehand. crossover and mutation. Proliferation and selection
When using the chromosome model group with are performed using these results. The above
the crossover process, only a specific chromosome analysis is repeated up to the number of the last
model evolves beyond a certain generation, and generation, and the gene arrangement of the
a model with high fitness cannot be found beyond model that has the highest fitness value in the
8
chromosome model group of the last generation chromosome models of N dv higher ranks are
is decoded, and the optimal operational pattern determined by the combination of ranking selec-
is decided. tion and roulette selection. Furthermore, the
calculation of production and selection described
4. Analysis Flow in previous is added to these N dv chromosome
The flow of calculation of the operational plan- models, and a chromosome model with a large
ning analysis of the complex energy system using fitness value is obtained, maintaining diversity
GA is shown in Figure 4(a). First, N dv' chromo- by the calculation of crossover and mutation
some model groups described in previous Section described in previous Section. This calculation is
are generated at random. The fitness values for repeated, and the chromosome model with the
each chromosome model are calculated, and the highest fitness value when reaching the number
Figure 4. Analysis flow, energy demand pattern, and output characteristics of equipment
9
of the last generation, decided beforehand, is by the least-squares method with an equation of
determined as an optimal model. Operational secondary order. The characteristics of electric
planning of all energy devices for each sampling power shown in Figure 4(c) are for a model that
time is decided by decoding the optimal model. includes the power consumption of blowers and
electric power loss of the DC/AC converter.
Cold-Region Houses Moreover, the values of the joule heat of the fuel
cells, the battery reaction heat, and the exhaust
1. Characteristics of Weather in Sapporo in heat of the reformer have been included in the heat
Japan characteristics in the figure. Methanol fuel using a
Sapporo is a cold, snowy region, and the annual burner for the heat sources of the reformer is also
average temperature for the past five years is 282 included on the horizontal axis of Figure 4(c). In
K (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, addition, to start the fuel cell system, consumption
2003). The average temperature in February is of methanol fuel equivalent to 900 kJ (250 Wh)
270 K, and the highest and the lowest tempera- is considered (Takeda, 2004). In order to collect
tures on a representative day are 273 K and 266 the hydrogen and oxygen generated by water elec-
K, respectively. Moreover, there is an average trolysis, tanks are installed in the electric energy
25 days of snowfall in February. On the other storage device. For fuel cell systems using not the
hand, the highest and the lowest temperature on gas obtained by steam reforming of methanol but
a representative July day for the past five years the hydrogen and oxygen in each tank, the power
are 298 K and 290 K, respectively, and the aver- generation efficiency is 0.75 and the heat output
age temperature is 293 K. Since air heat-source is set at 0.05 (Obara et al., 2005).
heat pumps cannot be used in winter, the use of a
geothermal heat pump is assumed in this Section. 2. Geothermal Heat Pump
Air conditioning is not needed during summer. Based on the examination results of hydrocarbon
binary vapor (HC-TECH Inc, 1997), we simplify
2. Characteristics of Individual Houses in the analysis by setting the temperature
Sapporo TL (= 277 K) of the low-temperature heat source
The average individual house in Sapporo is a
and the condensation temperatureTH (= 347 K)
2-story wooden house with a 140-m2 living
area (Narita, 1996). The model of the average to be constant, and the coefficient of pump COPt
k
electric power and thermal energy demand of at 3.0 .

the representative February day and July day for
individual houses in Sapporo is shown in Figure 3. Water Electrolyzer
4(b). The thermoelectric ratio of representative If direct current power is supplied to a water
days is 0.90:0.1 in February and 0.5:0.5 in July. electrolyzer, hydrogen can be produced at a rate
of Equation (1). E EL,t indicates the amount of
Characteristics of Energy Devices k
electric energy supplied to the water electrolysis

1. Fuel Cell Cogeneration bath, and EL expresses the efficiency of the
Figure 4(c) is the result of examining the rela- charge. The flow rate of hydrogen QH ,t
gener-
2 k
tionship between electric power and thermal ated from sampling time tk to t is calculated
energy output, and the fuel amount of supply. by the equation below. The oxygen flow rate is
The characteristic curve is divided into two or also determined by the same calculation. In a
more regions, and each region is approximated
10
report on the water electrolysis bath for hydrogen (4) when it depends on open-air temperature T,t .
k
generation, efficiency EL of charge is given as
ST and shows the efficiency of thermal stor-
0.85 (Kosaka et al., 2000). Here, Ec , Fd , and EV age and the density of thermal storage medium,
shows the chemical equivalent, Faraday constant respectively. In this Section, thermal storage loss
and voltage, respectively. at time tk of the representative day will be con-
sidered as 1% of the value on the left-hand side
E EL,t Ec of Equation (4) in July and 2% in February. These
QH = k
EL (1)
,t
2 k
Fd EV heat losses were calculated and determined from
the difference of temperature of ambient air and
a thermal storage medium.
4. Thermal Storage Tank
SSt,max is the maximum thermal energy storage,
5. Solar Modules
and TSt,max is the maximum temperature of the Figure 4(d) shows the results for a solar cell in
heat medium. Equations (2) and (3) are restrictions Sapporo in winter (representative days in Febru-
for thermal storage. V is the capacity of a thermal ary) (Obara & Kudo, 2003; Nagano, 2002). The
storage medium volume (calcium chloride is as- solar cell is a roof installation-type device installed
sumed), C p is the specific heat and T is the air perpendicularly so that it does not become covered
temperature outside the thermal storage tank. The with snow. The characteristics for the represen-
thermal storage temperature during sampling time tative days in July shown in the figure are the
tk is calculated by: predicted results. Each characteristic curve is the
amount of power generated during fair weather,
and power generation falls during cloudy or rainy
TSt ,t = SSt ,t / ( C p V ).
k k weather. Using the output characteristic perfor-
mance of the solar cell as 0% in snowfall, 50%
0 SSt ,t SSt ,max (2) under cloudy conditions and 100% in fair weather
in Figure 4(d), the operational planning for the
k
representative day for each month is analyzed.

T,t TSt ,t TSt ,max (3)
k k
Objective Function and

Energy Equation
The following equation is an expression of the
thermal energy storage between time tk and t . 1. Objective Function
Only methanol is used as the fuel supplied to the
SSt ,t SSt ,t = {H St ,in ,t H St ,out ,t system as shown in Figure 4(b). Therefore, op-
k k 1 k k
erational planning to minimize costs requires an

operational pattern where the methanol fuel con-
St C p V (TSt ,t T,t )} t (4)
k k
sumption is minimum for each sampling time tk .
Di represents the energy device and the subscript
H St ,in ,t and H St ,out ,t show the input and output i ( i = 1 , 2 , 3 ,..., M and M is the total number
k k
heat energies of the thermal storage tank, respec- of devices) corresponds to the device number used
tively, and the loss of thermal storage is the 3rd here. The operational costs of device Di during
term within { } on the right-hand side of Equation
sampling time tk to t are equal to fuel input
11
flow FD ,t of the device multiplied by unit fuel and H System ,t are decided on the basis of energy
i k k
price C fuel . The operational costs of the whole demand patterns. The left-hand side of Equation
system are estimated using Equation (5). There- (7) shows electric power output from the fuel cell
fore, the total operational costs of all working ( E FS ,t ) and solar cell ( ESL,t ). The right-hand
k k
periods of a system are calculated using Equation side of Equation (7) shows the electric power
(6) and called the best-fit solution, so that the consumption of the water electrolyzer ( E EL,t ),
value of Equation (6) should be small. In the k
electric power consumption of the heat pump (

example of the application of operational planning
E HP ,t ), and electric power converted into heat
in the following Section, C fuel of methanol fuel k
is calculated to be 0.463 $/kg (Energy and Indus- by the electric heater ( E H ,t ), respectively. The
k
trial Technology Development Organization in left-hand side of Equation (8) shows thermal
Japan, 1999)) energy output from the fuel cell heat exhaust, heat
pump ( H HP ,t ), electric heater ( H H ,t ) and thermal
M k k
k
i =1
(
C System ,t = C fuel FD ,t t
i k
) (5) storage tank ( H St ,t ), respectively. FS , FFS ,t ,
k k
and FS shows the calorific power of methanol

23 M fuel, the quantity of methanol fuel mass flow and
C System ,day = C System ,t (6) the fuel cell stack efficiency. FS is calculated
k
tk =0 i =1
from the relations between the amount of supply
of a methanol fuel, and a power output shown in
2. Energy Balance Figure 4(c). The right-hand side of Equation (8)
Equations (7) and (8) are the electric power and shows heat loss from the thermal storage tank (
thermal energy balance equations of this system, H St ,t ) and heat release from the radiator (
respectively.
k
H Rad ,t ), respectively.
k
E FS ,t + ESL,t
k k Operation Planning
= ESystem ,t + E EL,t + E HP ,t +E H ,t (7) 1. Analysis Method of System Operational

k k k k
Planning
FS FFS ,t (1 FS ) The mixed-integer plan-making method has
k
been studied to analyze the operational planning
of an energy system (Ito K, Shibata T, & Yo-
+H HP ,t + H H ,t + H St ,t koyama R., 2002). In this method, the nonlinear
input-and-output characteristics of energy de-
k k k
vices are expressed as a linear model and analyzed.

= H System ,t + H St ,t + H Rad ,t (8) An example of the test results of electric power
k k k
and thermal energy output characteristics of a fuel

cell with a reformer is shown in Figure 4(c). If
The left-hand sides of Equations (7) and (8)
the nonlinear characteristics of an energy device
correspond to the output energy from the system,
can be made to fit a linear approximation problem,
and the right-hand sides correspond to the amount
an increase in analysis error is predicted. In the
of consumption energy of the system. ESystem ,t
k mixed-integer plan-making method, the charac-
12
teristics of the electric power output are approxi- When an operational pattern (chromosome
mated by three straight lines l1 to l 3 in Figure model) that does not fulfill one of these condi-
4(c), and heat output is approximated by four tions arises, it is forced to a very low value of fit
so that it cannot proceed to the next generation.
straight lines l 4 to l7 . Generally, since the output
Similarly, a low fitness value is given for an op-
of small energy equipment is nonlinear, we should erational pattern that does not satisfy the energy
use the nonlinear model for analysis. In the balance of Equations (7) and (8).
analysis of the operational planning of the system For the chromosome models of the initial
with a number of energy devices, many variables generation for the power generation of a fuel
associated with each device operation are used. cell, the total power generated by the fuel cell is
Therefore, if many variables can be calculated decided at random within the electric power
simultaneously, the efficiency of the analysis will capacity. In addition, the total power generated
increase. A genetic algorithm, where simultaneous is distributed to the amounts of electric power
calculations of many variables and the calculation
output ( E FS ,t ), the quantity supplied to a water
of a nonlinear problem are possible, is introduced k
in the software developed in this study. However, electrolyzer and stored as electricity ( E EL,t ),
k
neither the application of a GA to a small-scale and the quantity conducting heat conversion (
energy system nor a design method that opti- E H ,t ) in an electric heater at random. The total
mizes the operational pattern and device capac- k
amount of power generated in fine weather in

ity has been studied previously. In particular, no
research reports on the optimization of the op- sampling time tk in a solar cell is decided as
erational plan for a compound system of an active shown in Figure 5(a). The total power generated
energy device, a renewable energy device and from the solar cell is distributed to the electric
unutilized energy device or their optimal capac- power supplied to the electric power output (
ity can be found in the literature. ESL,t ), the amount of accumulated electricity (
k
E EL,t ) and amount of electric power supplied

2. Operation of a Chromosome Model k
The chromosome model operated by the GA to a heater ( E H ,t ) for every chromosome mod-
k
calculation needs to satisfy the energy balance el at random. Moreover, the power consumption
in Equations (7) and (8). However, the chromo- ( E HP ,t ) of the geothermal heat pump for every
some model must also satisfy conditions (a) and k
chromosome model is estimated from the amount

(b) described below:
of heat output that was decided at random
within the limits of the device capacity and
1. A quantity that excludes electric energy
coefficient of performance (COP).
consumption (sum of all E ) from the
amount of electric energy output of the fuel
Case Study
cell and the solar cell satisfies the electric
energy demand.
Analysis Conditions
2. A quantity excluding heat loss (
H Rad ,t + H St ,t ) from the sum total of the
k k Operational period R of a system is split into 23
exhaust heat of the reformer and fuel cell, parts, and:
heat pump, electric heater, and the heat
energy output of the thermal storage tank tk (k = 0 , 1 , 2,....., 23)
should satisfy the heat energy demand.
13
Figure 5. Output characteristics of solar power generation and fuel cell, and system device cost
14
defines the sampling time. Moreover, the number cogeneration with a methanol reformer) is already
of devices M is set at five including the fuel cell installed in individual houses in Sapporo in this
with the reformer, solar cell, geothermal heat analysis. The renewable energy device (solar cell),
pump, water electrolyzer, and thermal storage unutilized energy device (geothermal heat pump),
tank. In the analysis described below, the number electricity accumulation device (water electrolyz-
of initial-generation chromosome model groups er), and thermal storage tank are connected to an
N dv' is set at 3000, and the number of chromosomes active energy device, and the complex independent
operational after reproduction N dv is set at 2500. energy system shown in Figure 4(b) is built. It is
The last generation is analyzed as 100 generations. difficult to introduce such a complex system into
Moreover, considering the maintenance of the individual houses because of the device costs. This
diversity of gene models, the number of intersec- section investigates the energy network system of
tions is selected randomly. That is, with one in- the distributed energy device. This Section also
tersection, 0.2% of the total number of chromo- examines, the operational planning method of the
somes is extracted as parent chromosomes, at active energy device with the maximum use of
maximum. The frequency of mutations governed renewable energy using the information obtained
is about 4% of the genes in a mutated chromosome from the analysis. Furthermore, the capacity of
model, at maximum. These parameters of the SGA devices to accumulate electricity and thermal
confirm that the value of the optimal solution is storage is estimated.
in agreement within several percent, as a result
of trial calculations with two or more parameters. Results and Discussion
The minimum operational costs for every
generation when performing an operational plan Results of Operational Planning
by GA to minimize the operational costs with the
application of the energy demand pattern of rep- Figure 5(b) shows the analytical results of op-
resentative days in July and February are shown erational planning assuming fair weather with
in Figure 5 (a). In this calculation, we assumed the energy demand pattern for the representative
fair weather and the electric power output of a day in each month, and it shows the device energy
solar module to be 100% (same as in Figure 4(d)). output for every time period. However, the output
Although the fitness value of the representative results of the fuel cell include the output values of
day for both months decreases rapidly, the op- both the electric energy and the heat energy. The
erational costs, to almost ten generations, shows breakdown of the energy output of the fuel cell is
a gradual change in successive generations. For shown in Figure 5(c). Hydrogen has been formed
the best-fitness solution after 10 generations, the by the steam reformation of methanol in the time
mutation calculation is important. However, if period with high thermal output (0:00 and 1:00
analysis conditions are changed, the number of on the representative day for July and 0:00~9:00
generations for convergence changes. and 19:00 and 21:00 on the representative day for
February). A thermal output is small when sup-
Objective of Analysis Calculation plying and generating the hydrogen and oxygen
produced by water electrolysis to the fuel cell.
The operational planning of a system is analyzed The reason for this is that the use of renewable
using the energy demand pattern of the represen- energy (solar cell) is a top priority. Therefore, if
tative days in February and July in Sapporo. We the amount of power generated by a solar cell
assume that the active energy device (fuel cell exceeds the electricity demand, the fuel cell will
not operate by driving the reformer. If, from night
15
to early morning, power generation from a solar 4(c), and because the driving period to operate
cell is not conducted, the fuel cell operates by the a fuel cell by generating hydrogen and oxygen
driving reformer. On a representative day, power using a solar cell is long. On the other hand, for
from a fuel cell by the operation of the reformer is the representative July day, the generation of hy-
generated from 0:00 at 9:00 in February, and the drogen and oxygen is conducted by a solar cell,
heat pump is operated using this electric power. and operation of a fuel cell in most periods is
From the analysis results of the operational plan, performed with high energy demand. Therefore,
thermal storage of the heat generated by the heat the difference in the output of a solar cell due to
pump occurs, and the stored thermal energy is the weather directly affects the operational costs
used to conduct the time shift and to fulfill heat of the system.
demand during the daytime.
Figure 5(d) shows the analytical results of the Design of the Capacity of the Water
system operational costs for conducting opera- Electrolyzer and Thermal Storage
tional planning in which the output proportion of
the solar cell is a variable, for the representative Figure 6(a) shows the results of the operational
day in each month. Using the characteristic output planning of the amount of thermal storage, and
performance of the solar cell of 0% in snowfall, the accumulation of electricity for a represen-
50% under cloudy conditions and 100% in fair tative February day. The largest quantity of
weather in Figure 4(d), operational planning for thermal storage and electric energy storage in
the representative day in each month is analyzed. the analytical results approximates the design
The total value of one day of electric power and capacity of each device in fair weather because
thermal energy demand is set at 100. The repre- it increases as the output proportion of the solar
sentative days in February and July of the total cell increases. Figure 6(b shows the analytical
electric power obtained in the solar cell for fine results of the thermal storage quantity and electric
weather are 95 and 28, respectively. On the other energy quantity where the output proportion of
hand, from Figure 5(d), the system operation costs the solar cell was 100% in the energy demand
during fine weather when setting the operation pattern for the representative day in each month.
costs in case of rainy weather and snowfall at 100 From these results, the maximum value of the
for February and July representative days are 88 thermal storage quantity is 308 MJ (representative
and 29, respectively. The difference of the opera- February day), and the maximum value of electric
tion cost of every month is equal to the difference energy storage quantity is 23 MJ (representative
of the consumption of a methanol fuel. Therefore, July day). Thermal storage capacity is reduced
the difference of operation cost is the difference by lengthening the operational period of a fuel
of a carbon-dioxide discharge. cell with the reformer and the heat pump.
The difference in the operational costs of the
system according to the difference in weather for Conclusions
the representative days in February (100-88 = 12)
is larger than the difference in solar cell output Analysis software for operational planning, when
(100-95 = 5) due to the weather. The main reasons two or more energy devices were introduced in
for this are that fuel cell efficiency improves by an individual house, was developed. A genetic
reducing operation because of low loads in Figure algorithm (GA), which can analyze nonlinear
16
Figure 6. Quantity of energy storage
problems and many variables at a time, was used the developed software. Furthermore, the device
for the analysis software for the operational plan- capacity of accumulation for an electricity storage
ning of the complex energy system developed in device and a thermal storage tank were estimated.
this Section. From the results of the analysis, a fuel cell with
The operational planning to introduce an active a reformer operates from night to early morning
energy device (fuel cell cogeneration), a renewable when a solar module is not operational. A heat
energy device (solar cell), and an unutilized energy pump also operates from night to early morning.
device (geothermal heat pump) in an individual The thermal storage of heat generated by the heat
house in Sapporo, Japan, which is a cold, snowy pump is conducted, and this heat is supplied to
region, as an analysis example was conducted using the heat load during the daytime.
17
FUEL CELL NETWORK SYSTEM flow direction of the hot water. Consequently,
CONSIDERING REDUCTION to counteract the piping heat release loss of the
IN FUEL CELL CAPACITY heat-energy network, the minimum piping route
USING LOAD LEVELING AND is examined.
HEAT RELEASE LOSS In the analysis case, the capacity reduction
effect of a fuel cell when installing load leveling
Introduction using the water electrolyzer described above is
investigated regarding a local energy network that
In order for installation of the fuel cell system to includes houses, a hospital, a factory, an office, and
houses or a small-scale and middle-scale building a convenience store. Furthermore, the hot water
to spread, it is necessary to reduce equipment cost. piping route and the fuel cell capacity placed on
Consequently, a fuel system network (hydrogen each building when optimizing the system with
piping and oxygen piping) and an energy network the object of minimizing the hot water piping heat
(a power transmission line and hot water piping) release are considered.
of distribution fuel cells are proposed (Obara &
Kudo, 2005). In this system, common auxiliary Load Leveling and Arrangement
machinery is installed in a machinery room. In Plan of Fuel Cell
this chapter, in order to reduce the capacity of the
fuel cell connected to the network, the method Fuel Cell Network System
of leveling the load is proposed. By this method,
hydrogen and oxygen are generated by water The network model with the proton exchange
electrolysis at the time of low load with little membrane fuel cell (PEFC) installed that is as-
power demand, and each gas is compressed and sumed in this chapter is shown in Figure 7 and
stored. On the other hand, the stored gas is sup- Figure 8. As shown in each figure, the fuel system
plied and generated to the fuel cell in a period of (hydrogen piping and oxygen piping), the power
large power load. The experimental result shows system (power transmission line), and the heat-
that the power generation characteristics improve energy network (hot water piping) between the
greatly compared with air supply, when supplying fuel cells installed in each building are connected.
oxygen to the fuel cell (Badami &Caldera, 2002). A heat transfer medium (hot water) is flowed in
Therefore, if the oxygen generated when load hot water piping, the exhaust heat of a fuel cell is
is small can be used for a high-load period, the recovered, and heat is distributed to each building.
installed capacity of the fuel cell can be reduced. The route of the hot water piping can be set up
Moreover, the heat-energy network is hot water arbitrarily, and the flow direction is one way as
piping, and supplies heat to each building. Hot the arrow in each figure shows. Figure 7 shows
water piping distributes heat via each building. the system that supplies the power to Buildings A
When there is heat excess with some buildings, to G from one set of the fuel cell installed in the
it can also recover this heat through the hot water machinery room, and is described as the R1 type
piping. In a heat-energy network, the hot water below. A machinery room can be installed in an
temperature in a building outlet changes with the arbitrary building (Building A in Figure 7). As
heat consumed by each building and the fuel cell shown in Figure 7 (c), the fuel cell (1: this number
exhaust heat of each building. Therefore, the heat corresponds to that in Figure 7), water electrolyzer
release of the overall network differs according (6), city gas reformer (7), hydrogen and oxygen
to outside air temperature, piping distance, the compressor (9 and 11), cylinders (10 and 12), geo-
starting point of the hot water supply, and the thermal heat pump (13), heat storage tank (14),
18
Figure 7. Fuel cell network system model (R1 type)
Figure 8. Fuel cell network system model (R2 type)
19
etc. are installed in the machinery room. The heat 8 (c) is installed in Building A. The equipment
output by fuel cell exhaust heat, the heat storage scheme installed in the building and machinery
tank, and the geo-thermal heat pump is distributed room in the R2 type is shown in Figure 8 (b) and
to each building through a heat transfer medium. Figure 8 (c).
The piping route can be planned arbitrarily and Ambient air is usually supplied to the fuel cell
it is in the order of Building ABCFEDGA in the installed in R1 and R2 from a blower. However,
example of Figure 7 (a). As shown in Figure 7 both types can also supply oxygen through piping.
(b), headers (4 and 5) are set in each building at Moreover, it is assumed that reformed gas of the
a hot water gate. The heat of the radiator (3) and city gas reformer and hydrogen of the cylinder
a heat exchanger connected to the header is used can be supplied to the fuel cells at arbitrary times
for space heating and hot water supply. Figure 8 through the network.
shows the system that distributes a fuel cell in all
the buildings, and this system is described as the Power Generation Characteristics
R2 type below. Although the number of fuel cells of the Fuel Cell
increases and the equipment cost increases for the
R2 type, heat release loss with heat transport is Figure 9 shows the power generation characteris-
small. The hot water piping route of the R2 type tics when hydrogen and oxygen are supplied, and
and the building with a machinery room can be when supplying hydrogen and air by the results
planned arbitrarily. In the example of Figure 8 of the performance measurement of a PEFC. The
(a), hot water is supplied in the order of Building differences in these power generation characteris-
ADGBFECA. The machinery room of Figure tics are considered to be due to the difference in
Figure 9. Single cell performance
20
oxygen partial pressure, the water balance inside air supply. If the fuel cell with the characteristics
the cell, and the electrical receptivity change of shown in Figure 10 is used with maximum output,
the ion exchange membrane. The power genera- the fuel cell facility capacity will decrease by the
tion characteristics differ between supplying re- value of ( E fco,max E fca ,max ).
formed gas to a fuel cell, and supplying hydrogen.
However, since there are few differences in the Load Leveling Using Water Electrolysis
power generation characteristics of reformed gas
or hydrogen, this difference is ignored. Figure 11 shows the model indicating power
Figure 10 shows the characteristics of the demand amount Eneed ,t to which is added the
power and heat output when supplying air or power demand amount of each building in Figure
oxygen to a cathode using the same fuel cell (the
7 or Figure 8 for every sampling time t . Esep in
electrode surface is 1 m2) as shown in Figure 9.
The maximum power output when supplying air this figure is the threshold value of the region of
low load and high load. By using this threshold
to the cathode is E fca,max =1.05 kW, and it is
value, load leveling is attempted using the meth-
E fco,max =1.9 kW in the supply of oxygen. In this od described below. When Eneed ,t is less than Esep ,
way, if oxygen is supplied to the cathode, the it generates electricity by supplying reformed gas
power output will increase. Therefore, if oxygen and air to the fuel cell. However, the production
is supplied and generated to a fuel cell when there
of electricity of the fuel cell is always Esep , it
is high power demand, the fuel cell can be min-
iaturized compared with the design capacity by supplies power whose value is the difference
between Esep and Eneed ,t to the water electro-
Figure 10. Output characteristics of a fuel cell
21
Figure 11. Fuel cell operation
lyzer, and produces hydrogen and oxygen (the the order of Building ABCDEFGA for the R1
black area in Figure 11). After compressing these type, and it flows in the order of ADGBFECA for
gases, they are stored in each cylinder. When the R2 type as shown in Figure 12 (a). As shown
Eneed ,t exceeds Esep , it generates electricity by in Figure 12 (a) and Figure 12 (b), one fuel cell
supplying the hydrogen and oxygen in the cylin- is installed in Building A (FA) for the R1 type,
ders to the fuel cell through the network. In the and the fuel cell of the capacity of FA to FG is
proposed method of load leveling, it is necessary installed in Building A to G for the R2 type. Hot
to determine Esep , where hydrogen and oxygen water of temperature TA,in ,t is input into Building
are produced at the time of low load, and the A in the R1 type. Heat is supplied for the hot
amount is consumed at the time of high load bal- water from the fuel cell exhaust heat (FA), heat
ance. storage tank, and geo-thermal heat pump, and as
shown in Figure 12 (c), hot water of temperature
Distribution of the Fuel Cell TA,out ,t is output from Building A. After this, there
is no heat input to for the hot water, and hot water
Figure 12 shows the model of (a) the hot water of temperature TA,in ,t returns to the machinery
piping route, (b) fuel cell capacity of each build- room of Building A due to the heat consumption
ing, (c) change of hot water temperature, and (d) of Building B to G, and piping heat release. The
piping heat release per unit length of the R1 type temperature falls as the hot water of the R1 type
and R2 type. The machinery room of both types progresses to Building G from Building A. There-
is installed in Building A, and hot water flows in fore, since the difference in temperature of the
22
Figure 12. Arrangement plan of fuel cell units
outside air and hot water is small, as shown in the R1 type). The power balance equation in this
Figure 12 (d), the piping heat release per unit case is expressed with the following equation.
length is small. On the other hand, in the R2 type,
heat is supplied to hot water from distributed fuel M M
cells. Therefore, the outlet hot water temperature E f ,m,t = Eneed ,m,t
m =1 m =1 (9)
of each building fluctuates, as shown in Figure V
12 (c). As a result, the heat release per unit length +Eel ,t + Ehp,t + Esub,v,t
v =1
of piping also fluctuates, as shown in Figure 12
(d).
The left-hand side of Equation (9) expresses
the power output in the DC-AC converter outlet
Energy Balance Equation
of the fuel cells of M . Moreover, the 1st term on
the right-hand side is the power demand amount
At sampling time t , the water electrolyzer installed
in each building, the 2nd term expresses the
in the machinery room and the fuel cells of M
power consumption of the water electrolyzer, the
installed in M buildings are operating ( M =1 in
23
3rd term expresses the power consumption of the electrolyzer, the 2nd term expresses the amount
heat pump, and the 4th term expresses the power of oxygen supplied from the cylinder, and the 3rd
consumption of the auxiliary machinery (the pump term expresses the amount of oxygen in the air
of the hot water network, and the compressor of supply of the blower. The right-hand side is the
hydrogen and oxygen). amount of oxygen consumed with the fuel cell.
The heat balance of the system is expressed
below. M
Qel ,H ,t
+ Qa ,H ,t
+ Qr ,H ,t
= Q f ,m ,H ,t (12)
2 2 2 2
m =1
M
H f ,m ,t
+ H st ,t + H hp,t =
m =1 (10) M
M M
Qel ,O ,t + Qa ,O ,t + Qbw ,O ,t = Q f ,m ,O ,t (13)
H need ,m ,t
+ H hw ,mm ,t 2 2 2
m =1
2
m =1 m =1
Operating Method of the System

The 1st term of the left-hand side of Equation
(10) expresses the exhaust heat of the fuel cell of
The exhaust heat of each fuel cell connected to the
M , and the 2nd term and the 3rd term express
network is used for buildings in which a fuel cell
the heat output from the heat storage tank and the
is installed, which is given priority. The surplus
heat pump, respectively. The right-hand side of
heat of each building is recovered in the hot water
Equation (10) expresses heat consumption, the
network. On the other hand, when the heat of a
1st term is the heat demand of each building con-
certain building runs short, heat is received from
nected to the network, and the 2nd term express-
the hot water piping. Moreover, when the heat
es the heat release of the hot water piping that
of the overall network system runs short, heat is
connects each building. H hw ,mm ,t expresses the supplied to the network from the heat storage tank
heat release of the hot water piping that connects and the heat pump. When the network has excess
Building m to Building m , and is calculated heat, surplus heat is stored in the heat storage tank.
from Equation (11). The heat pump is operated when the heat of the
heat storage tank is insufficient.
H hw ,mm ',t =
(11)
h Dp lmm ' (Tm ,out ,t Tatm ,t ) Analysis Method
Procedure of Analysis
Equation (12) is the balance equation of hy-
drogen. The 1st term of the left-hand side of The analysis follows steps (1) to (3).
Equation (12) expresses the quantity of hydrogen
production of the water electrolyzer, and the 2nd 1. Load Leveling Using Water Electrolysis,
term expresses the hydrogen quantity supplied to
and Calculation of Esep
the network from the cylinder, and the 3rd term
expresses the quantity of hydrogen production of The load-leveling method using water electrolysis
the reformer. Moreover, the right-hand side ex- is employed in the R1 type (the R2 type also uses
presses the hydrogen consumption of the fuel cell the same procedure). In order to determine Esep
of M . Equation (13) is a balance equation of in Figure 11, an initial value is decided at random
oxygen. The 1st term of the left-hand side ex- concerning the given power demand pattern. At
presses the oxygen concentration of the water this time, the amount of production of hydrogen
24
and oxygen in a low-load period is calculated, and ing A, and the heat outputs of heat storage tank
hydrogen and oxygen consumption in a high-load and heat pump installed in this machinery room
period are also calculated. The balance is calcu- are H st ,t and H hp,t . There is heat demand of
lated from the amount of production and consump- H need ,A,t to H need ,D ,t in Building A to D, respec-
tion of hydrogen and oxygen. The value of Esep
tively. In the fuel cell installed in each building,
is changed, and it is repeatedly calculated until there is exhaust heat power output of H f ,A,t to
the balance of hydrogen and oxygen becomes
sufficiently small. In the analysis case in next H f ,D ,t . Therefore, the heat balance of Building A
section, the time of less than 1% of the balance to D is calculable from Equation (10). Moreover,
error was adopted. Balance Equation (9) of the the heat release (from H hw ,AB ,t to H hw ,DA,t )
power, balance Equation (12) of the hydrogen and of the hot water piping that connects each build-
oxygen, and Equation (13) are iused for the cal- ing is calculated using Eq, (11). Tatm ,t in Equation
culation of the balance of hydrogen and oxygen. (11) employs the outside air temperature in Tokyo
Figures 10 and 13 are used as the power genera- as shown in Figure 15 (Inoue U., 1996).
tion characteristics of the fuel cell and the char-
acteristics of the water electrolyzer. When the fuel 3. Route Planning of Hot Water Piping Con-
cell capacity in the analysis exceeds that of Figure sidering Heat Release Loss
10, it is assumed that the relation of Figure 10 can Since a fuel cell is placed in each building for the
be extrapolated. R2 type, it is necessary to determine the capacity
of each fuel cell. The outlet hot water temperature
2. Calculation of Heat Release from the Hot of a certain building is decided by the heat balance
Water Piping in the building, and the heat release of the hot
Figure 14 shows the heat release model of the hot water piping is calculated from the difference in
water piping. The fuel cell is installed in four the outlet hot water temperature and the outside
houses, Building A to D. Each building is con- air temperature. Therefore, the heat release of the
nected with piping, and hot water returns to overall network differs according to the capacity
Building A. The machinery room is set in Build- of the fuel cell installed in each building. In this
Figure 13. Characteristics of water electrolysis device
25
Figure 14. Heat energy network model
Figure 15. Outside aie temorerure
chapter, as shown in Figure 16, information on the there are few values in Equation (14) showing heat
capacity of the fuel cell installed in each building release from the hot water piping. The calculation
and the piping route is expressed with a gene, and is iterated, chromosomes are evolved and a solution
these are installed into a genetic algorithm. It is with high fitness is sought. In the last generations
evaluated as a solution with high fitness, so that chromosomes, a solution with the highest fitness
26
is determined as an optimal solution. From the fices, and factories is supplied from an electric
information on the optimum chromosome, the heat pump. Figure 18 shows the sum of the
capacity of the fuel cell installed in each building power demand amount of these seven buildings.
and the piping route are determined. The arrangement of the buildings is shown in
Figure 19. Moreover, the broken line in Figure
Period M
19 is the hot water piping route of the shortest
F= H hw ,l ,t
(14)
distance. In these analyses, in order to make
t =1 l =1
the hot water flow rate in the piping 1 m/s or
less, the inside diameter of the piping was set at
Solution Parameters
60 mm. The hot water piping is equipped with
a 40-mm-thick polystyrene-foam system heat
As parameters of the genetic algorithm employed
insulating mould. Moreover, the overall heat
in the analysis in the following section, the popu-
transfer coefficient on the surface of the heat
lation is 10,000, the generation number is 20,
insulating mould is set at 8.0 W/m2K. Under
and the crossover probability is 0.5. The gene
the conditions described above, reduction in
manipulation of mutation is not added. Search of
fuel cell capacity using load leveling, and the
the hot water piping route in the R1 type is also
route of the hot water piping for minimum heat
analyzed using the genetic algorithm.
release are investigated.
Case Study
Reduction Effect of Fuel Cell Facility
Capacity
Energy Demand Pattern
and Network System
When threshold value Esep of a low-load region
In this case study, an energy network composed and a high-load region is calculated according to
of seven buildings is investigated. The energy the procedure of previous section, a representative
need pattern in winter (January), mid-term day in January is 109 kW and a representative
(May), and summer (August) of each building day in May and August is 125 kW. By installing
is shown in Figure 17(Architectural Institute of Esep into the load leveling described in previous
Japan, 2002; Yamano, 2002; Ozaki & Tuziki, section the fuel cell is made to follow the power
1990). These energy-demand patterns are as- load pattern of Figure 18. Figure 20 shows the
sumed to be in Tokyo. Space-cooling power fuel cell exhaust heat in this case. In the heat bal-
in summer is included in the power demand ance on a representative day in January shown in
shown in Figure 17, and hot water supply and Figure 20, since heat runs short in the 7:00 to
space heating are included in the heat demand. 17:00 period, the heat pump is operated. On the
However, the heat for convenience stores, of- other hand, the heat supply and demand on rep-
27
Figure 17. Energy demand patterns
resentative days in May and August show much enclosed within the broken line in Figure 21 are
heat surplus. Moreover, Figure 21 shows the power generation using hydrogen and oxygen.
calculation result of the electrode surface of the These gases are produced using the power gener-
fuel cell at the time of installing Esep and perform- ated with reformed gas and air. The fuel cell
ing load leveling. The fuel cell electrode surface generated with reformed gas and air is operated
in Figure 21 expresses fuel cell capacity. The data at time other than the broken-line region in Figure
28
Figure 18. Demand patterns of total electric energy
Figure 19. Arrangements of buildings
21. At the time of high load from 12:00 to 16:00 Route Planning Result of Hot Water
on a representation day in August, about 180-m2 Piping
electrode surface was conventionally taken. If
load leveling using water electrolysis is employed, The result of the outlet hot water temperature of
the fuel cell can be reduced to a 120-m2 electrode each building that composes the network is de-
surface, which is equivalent to 2/3 at the peak at scribed. The outlet hot water temperature differs
20:00. according to the R1 type or the R2 type. Moreover,
29
Figure 20. Demand patterns of total heat energy
Figure 21. Results of electrode area
since the heat release of the hot water piping dif- of the hot water piping. Letters A to G in Figure
fers according to the outside air temperature, the 22 corresponds to the building number shown in
sampling time is different. The result of 4:00 and Figure 19. For example, in the analysis result at
16:00 on representative days in January and August 4:00 and 16:00 for the R1 type on a representa-
is shown in Figure 22. As Figure 18 shows, the sum tive day in January, hot water flows in order of
of the power demand of each building connected GFDCABE. The optimal path on a representative
to the network at 4:00 on representative days in day in January for the R1 type is GFDCABE, and
January and August is small. On the other hand, the optimal path on a representative day in August
this value is large at 16:00. The horizontal axis is BEGFDCA. In this way, the starting points of
in Figure 22 is the route order (No. 1 to No. 7) the hot water differ according to each month.
30
Figure 22. Hot water temperature of outlet piping of .buildings in January and August
Moreover, the route of both months representa- ing point of the hot water piping as B, E, or G.
tive days for the R2 type is GEBACDF. All routes Figure 24 shows the result of the hot water piping
GFDCABE, BEGFDCA, and GEBACDF are the heat release relevant to the piping routes in Figure
same as a result of the shortest route shown in 23. Figure 25 shows the result of the piping heat
Figure 19. However, GFDCABE and BEGFDCA release in the network on a representative day
are clockwise rotations and GEBACDF is counter every month. Under these analysis conditions,
clockwise. The outlet hot water temperature of the difference in the heat release for the R1 type
each building differs in the starting point of the and R2 type on a representative day is less than
hot water piping, route, and flow direction, as 3% every month. Considering the analysis error
shown in Figure 23. Figure 23 shows the result of of the genetic algorithm, these can be estimated
the hot water temperature when setting the start- as the same value. Therefore, if the heat release
Figure 23. Hot water temperature of outlet piping of .buildings
31
Figure 24. Quantity of heat loss of piping between buildings
Figure 25. Waste heat of hot water supply
of the R1 type and R2 type is optimized, it will Result of a Fuel Cell Arrangement Plan
converge on almost the same value. However,
since the R1 type in this case assumes that the Figure 26 shows the result of the fuel cell arrange-
starting point of the hot water piping is movable ment plan for the R2 type. The fuel cell capacity
to arbitrary buildings according to the month, it installed in each building is a circle of the broken
is not realistic. line in Figure 26. When the electrode surface of
32
Figure 26. Quantity of heat loss of piping between buildings
each building shown in Figure 26 is added, it is 1. If the load-leveling method is used, the in-
97 m2. The electrode surface when installing the stalled capacity of by fuel cell will be reduced
installed capacity reduction by load leveling is 120 by 34% compared with the conventional
m2. Furthermore, if the optimum arrangement plan system.
of a fuel cell is installed, the electrode surface will 2. Moreover, when fuel cell distribution is op-
be reduced to 97 m2. When load leveling using water timized, in accordance with the effectiveness
electrolysis and optimization of fuel cell distribution of (1), there is a 46% reduction compared
are installed, the fuel cell electrode surface is redu- with the conventional system.
ced by 46% compared to the conventional system.
Conclusions REFERENCES
For the fuel cell energy network system, the Architectural Institute of Japan. (2002). The na-
load-leveling method that supplies air and water tionwide research study concerning the energy
electrolysis oxygen to the cathode of the fuel cell consumption in the house in the 2001 fiscal year.
was proposed. Furthermore, the optimum opera- 3, 3-6. In Japanese.
tion plan of the hot water network was proposed, Badami, M., &Caldera, C. (2002). Dynamic model
and the fuel cell capacity of each building, posi- of a load-following fuel cell vehicle: Impact of
tion of the machinery room, piping route, and the air system. SAE Technical Paper (SAE-2002-
hot water flow direction were investigated. The 01-100), 1-10.
fuel cell energy network composed of individual
houses, a hospital, a hotel, a convenience store, Baker, J. E. (1985). Adaptive selection methods
an office building, and a factory was analyzed, for genetic algorithms. In Proc. 1st Int. Joint Conf.
and the following Conclusions were obtained. on Genetic Algorithms, ICGA85, 101-111.
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Energy and Industrial Technology Development Nagano, K., Mochida, T., Shimakura, K.,
Organization in Japan. (1999). The researches- Murashita, K., & Takeda, S. (2002). Develop-
and-developments trend of the low carbon ment of thermal-photovoltaic hybrid exterior
fuel for vehicle. In Japanese. Retrieved from wallboards incorporating PV cells in and their
http://www.nedo.go.jp/kankobutsu/foreigninfo/ winter performances. Solar Energy Materials
html9912/12119.html and Solar Cells, 77, 265282. doi:10.1016/
S0927-0248(02)00348-3
Fujiki K., Akagi S., Hirokawa T., & Yoshida K.
(1997). Optimal planning method of energy plant Narita, K. (1996). The research on unused energy
configurations based on a genetic algorithm. of the cold region city and utilization for the dis-
Trans. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Eng., Series C, 64(617), trict heat and cooling (Ph.D. thesis). Hokkaido
354-361. In Japanese University, Japan.
Goldberg, D. E. (1989). Genetic algorithms in National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
search, optimization and machine learning. Ad- (2003). Chronological scientific tables. Japan:
dison Wesley. Maruzen K.K.
HC-TECH Inc. (1997). HC12a and HC22a Prop- Obara, S., & Kudo, K. (2003). Operational op-
erties and Performance Tests Data sheets. timization and scheduling of multi-kind small
capacity energy devices for cold region houses.
Hongmei, Y., Haipeng, F., Pingjing, Y., & Yi,
In Proceedings of 9th ITES, 1, 297-302.
Y. (2000). A combined genetic algorithm/simu-
lated annealing algorithm for large scale system Obara, S., & Kudo, K. (2005). Study on improve-
energy integration. Computers & Chemical En- ment in efficiency of partial load driving of in-
gineering, 24, 20232035. doi:10.1016/S0098- stalling fuel cell network with water electrolysis
1354(00)00601-3 operation. Transactions of the JSME, Series B,
71(701), 237-244. In Japanese
Inoue, U. (1996). Air-conditioning handbook, 14.
Japan: Maruzen. In Japanese Obara, S., Kudo, K., & Kuroda, A. (2005). Study
on small-scale fuel cell cogeneration system with
Ito, K., Shibata, T., & Yokoyama, R. (2002).
methanol steam reforming considering partial load
Optimal operation of a cogeneration plant in
and load fluctuation. Transactions of the ASME.
combination with electric heat pumps. Trans.
Journal of Energy Resources Technology, 127,
ASME J. Energy Resource Technol., 116, 5664.
265271. doi:10.1115/1.1926310
doi:10.1115/1.2906010
Ozaki, S., & Tuziki, I. (1990).Trial calculation of
Kosaka, K., Tani, T., & Yoshida, S., (2000). Ther-
the quantity of public electric power and city gas
mal analysis of solid polymer water electrolysis
to be replaced by a distributed energy system. In
system, Trans. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Eng., 66 (642), B,
Proceedings of the 9th Energy-resources seminar,
547-554. In Japanese
9, 174-179. In Japanese.
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Srinivas, M., & Patnaik, L. M. (1994). Genetic Yamano, Y. (2002). Development of a load-level-
algorithms: A survey. IEEE Computer, 27(6), ling technique. [In Japanese]. Denki, 629, 5661.
1726. doi:10.1109/2.294849
Yu, H., Fang, H., Yao, P., & Yuan, Y. (2000). A
Takeda, Y., Iwasaki, Y., Imada, N., & Miyata, T. combined genetic algorithm/simulated annealing
(2004). Development of fuel processor for rapid algorithm for large scale system energy integration.
start-up. In K. Kimura (Ed.), Proc. 20th Energy Computers & Chemical Engineering, 24(8), 2023
System Economic and Environment Conference, 2035. doi:10.1016/S0098-1354(00)00601-3
Tokyo, (pp. 343-344). In Japanese
35
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
C : Cost [US Dollar]

Di : Energy device
E : Electric power [W]
Dp : Heat-insulating-mould outside diameter of hot water piping [m]
E : Power [kW]
E : Power consumption [kW]
Ec : Chemical equivalent (equivalent)
E EL : Amount of electric power storage [J]
EV : Voltage [V]
E : Consumption of electric power [W]
F : Quantity of fuel mass flow [g/s]
Fd : Faraday constant [C/g]
fm : Objective function
H : Thermal energy [kW]
H : Consumption of thermal energy [W]
h : Overall heat transfer coefficient in the surface of heat insulating mould W/ m2K
l : Distance m
M : Number of energy devices, the number of buildings with a fuel cell
N dv : Number of chromosome models
P : Probability
Q : Number of select switches
R : Operation period of system [s]
S E : Amount of electric power storage [J]
SSt : Amount of thermal energy storage [J]
T : Temperature [K]
t , tk : Sampling time [s]
t : Sampling time interval [s]
V : The number of auxiliary machinery with electricity consumption
Greek Symbols
: Calorific power of fuel [J/g]

: Efficiency
: Density of thermal storage medium [g/m3]
36
Subscripts
a : Cylinder
atm : Open air
bw : Blower
el , EL : Water electrolyzer
FS : Fuel cell stack
f : Fuel cell
fca : Fuel cell generated with air
fco : Fuel cell generated with oxygen
H : Electric heater
HP : Geothermal heat pump
hp : Heat pump
hw : Heat release of hot water piping
m : The number of each building
need : Energy needs
Rad : Radiator
r : Reformer
SL : Solar module
St : Thermal storage tank
sep : Threshold value of low loading and high load
st : Heat storage tank
sub : Auxiliary machinery
37
38
Chapter 2
Dynamic Characteristics of a
Fuel Cell System and Microgrid
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Load Response Characteristics of a Fuel Cell Microgrid with
Control of Number of Units and Dynamic Characteristics of a PEFC System for Individual Houses. The
dynamic characteristics and generation efficiency of a microgrid structured from 17 houses are examined
in the 1st section. The characteristics of the power quality of a fuel cell microgrid, and the generation
efficiency of the fuel cell are examined by numerical analysis. In the 2nd chapter, the method of deter-
mination of the control variables for a system controller, which controls the electric power output of a
solid-polymer-membrane fuel cell system (PEFC) during electric power load fluctuations, is considered.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION cell microgrid, and the generation efficiency of the

fuel cell were examined. As a result, the relation-
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. A ship between the parameter of the controller and
gas engine generator with a power generation power quality and a fall in generation efficiency
capacity of 3 kW installed in a house is made to by a partial load were clarified.
correspond to the base load, and a proton-exchange The summary of the 2nd section is as follows.
membrane fuel cell (PEFC) with a power genera- The operation was clarified for the response char-
tion capacity of 1 kW is installed in 16 houses. acteristics of electric power generation for setting
Moreover, when changing the load of a microgrid, the control variables of proportional action and
the correspondence takes place by controlling the integral action considered to be the optimal for
number of fuel cells. Using numerical analysis, the system controller. The power load pattern
the characteristics of the power quality of a fuel of an individual house consists of loads usually
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch002
Dynamic Characteristics of a Fuel Cell System and Microgrid
moved up and down rapidly for a short time. of the problems predicted by the construction
Until now, there have been no examples show- of a microgrid is that power quality deteriorates
ing the characteristics of the power generation when the power demand and supply balance of
efficiency of a system that follows a load pat- the grid does not balance. The deterioration of the
tern that moves up and down rapidly. Therefore, power quality described in this Section means the
this study investigates the relation of the control fluctuation of the voltage and frequency because
variables and power generation efficiency when the dynamic characteristics of an electric power
adding change that simulates the load of a house supply do not meet demand. Power quality can
to PEFC cogeneration. As a result, it was shown be maintained comparatively easily by control-
that an operation, minimally influenced by load ling the voltage and the frequency of a grid by a
fluctuations, can be performed by changing the coordinated grid type to synchronize with another
control variables using the value of the electric network, such as commercial power (Ohmsha,
power load of a system. 2002). On the other hand, in an independent grid
type, the reference of the power is determined to
be any power generator linked to a grid. In addi-
LOAD RESPONSE tion, other voltages and frequencies of generators
CHARACTERISTICS OF A FUEL are controlled to synchronize with this reference
CELL MICROGRID WITH CONTROL electrode. Therefore, if the power quality of the
OF NUMBER OF UNITS power generator made into a reference is not
stabilized, the power quality of the whole grid
Introduction may deteriorate. In order to stabilize the power
quality of a microgrid, there is the method of con-
The microgrid is expected to reduce the discharge necting a battery to a microgrid. However, when
of carbon dioxide gas, to cut the peak of an electric facility cost and the maintenance cost of a facility
power plant, and to supply backup power in an are taken into consideration, the introduction of
emergency (Robert, 2004; Carlos & Hernandez, a common battery is difficult. If the number is
2005; Takuma & Goda, 2005). A microgrid controlled and the distributed power generator
technique connects energy equipment, such as is made to correspond so that a rapid change of
an engine generator and a fuel cell, and power electricity demand may be followed, the response
is supplied by each cooperating piece of equip- characteristics of each power generator will influ-
ment. In forming a microgrid, the coordinated ence the power quality of a grid. In this Section,
grid system with commercial power etc., and the the dynamic characteristics of a highly indepen-
independent grid system should be considered. In dent microgrid that connects a gas-engine power
the coordinated grid type, the supply and demand generator (EG) and a proton-exchange membrane
of power with a commercial system are possible, fuel cell (PEFC) as a distributed energy system
and the peak cut of an electric power plant and the are investigated for the possibility of realization.
buying and selling of power are possible. If the Generally, in order to maintain high generation
exhaust heat of the generating equipment linked efficiency by EG, it is necessary to extract the
to a microgrid needs to be conveyed only a short area of an operation point (load and number of
distance, it can be supplied to the consumer with rotations) as much as possible. Moreover, if large
small radiation loss. On the other hand, in the load fluctuation is added to EG, tens of seconds
exhaust heat of the large-scale conventional power are required to stabilize the power from several
plant, long distance transport had many heat losses, seconds (Katrasnik et al., 2005). Therefore, EG is
and utilization of exhaust heat was limited. One used for base load operation in this Section, and
39
the fuel cell distributed in each house examines the other hand, Figure 1 (b) shows the microgrid
the microgrid that controls the number according of the independent system that does not connect
to the amount demanded. with other grids. An energy network consists of
EG and PEFC connected to a grid cooperate a hot-water piping network used for the waste
according to the power demand, and supply the heat recovery of energy equipment, and the heat
power. In this case, although the exhaust heat supply to each house, a city gas network that sup-
of EG and PEFC is supplied to each house, the plies city gas to the reformer for fuel cells, and a
characteristics of heat supply are not dealt with gas-engine power generator, and a microgrid that
in this Section. One method of connecting a fuel supplies electric power to each house. The power
cell with the grid is to install one set of large- transported by the independent microgrid shown
capacity PEFC (centralization system), and in Figure 1 (b) needs to control the voltage and
another method is placing PEFC in each hours frequency of each power generator on the basis
(distributed system). Because the centralization of the power of any one power generator. On the
system should just install one set of PEFC, equip- other hand, it is controllable by the microgrid
ment cost and installation cost are low compared connected with the other power grids shown in
with the distributed system. However, if PEFC Figure 1 (a) to synchronize with the network volt-
is operated in a time zone with little electricity age and the frequency that were connected. Even
demand, low-efficiency partial-load operation if rapid load fluctuation is added to a grid and a
will produce a centralization system. On the other difference occurs in the production of electricity
hand, when distributing PEFC and controlling and the amount demanded, the power quality of
the number, the fuel cell operated with a partial the coordinated grid type is stabilized by syn-
load is one set of distributed fuel cells. Therefore, chronizing with the connected network. With the
the amount of falls in generation efficiency is independent grid type, if rapid load fluctuation
predicted to be smaller in the distributed system is added to a grid and a difference occurs in the
than in the centralization system. Thus, an engine production of electricity and the amount demanded
generator with a generation capacity of 3 kW is of a power generator, it is considered that a long
installed in a house, and it is made to correspond time is required to stabilize the power quality. If
to the operation of the base load as an analysis load fluctuation is not appropriately predicted,
example of this Section. In addition, the dynamic in an independent grid type, the power quality of
characteristics of a microgrid and the generation the grid is expected to be low over a long time.
efficiency of fuel cells when a fuel cell system
with a generation capacity of 1 kW is distributed System Scheme
and installed in 16 houses, and when one PEFC
with a generation capacity of 16 kW installed Figure 2 (a) is a system configuration figure of
(centralization system) are examined. an independent microgrid that sets one set of EG
as base load operation, and connects 16 sets of
Microgrid Model fuel cell systems to a grid. In the independent grid
type, the power quality of the power generator
Power Quality of operated as a base load is a standard of the power
quality of the whole grid, and is very significant.
The energy network and microgrid that are in- EG connects the synchronous power generator
stalled in an urban area are shown in Figure 1. to a gas engine, and obtains exhaust heat from a
Figure 1 (a) shows the microgrid of the system water jacket and an exhaust gas heat exchanger. If
linked with a commercial power network. On rapid load fluctuation is added to EG, the power
40
Figure 1. Fuel cell microgrid system
quality of a grid is affected, but in this system, system and the secondary-delay-system is shown
EG is operated at the base load of fixed load. On in Figure 2 (b). u in this figure expresses the
the other hand, adjustment of the power supply power load and v2 to v4 expresses the output in
when changing the load of a grid corresponds to the block (from Action 1 to Action 3) that branch-
the number control of the fuel cells installed in es at the value of u. Moreover, h0 to h3 expresses
each house. The number of fuel cells installed in the generation capacity of the engine generator
House Q from House B shown in Figure 2 (a) is and the fuel cell installed in House B and House
expressed by F/C (1) to F/C (16). C. In this system, when the value of u exceeds
Figure 2 (b) shows the parts of House A in capacity h0 of the engine generator corresponding
which an engine generator is installed, and Figure to operation of the base load, the fuel cell (capac-
2 (a) shows House B and House C in which a fuel ity h1) of House B is operated first. When the
cell of the system is installed. The block express- production of electricity (h0 + h1) is less than the
ing the response characteristics of an EG, a city value of u, the fuel cell installed in House C is
gas reformer, a fuel cell, an inverter, and an in- operated. Thus, the number of fuel cells is con-
terconnection device with the primary-delay- trolled by the volume of the load added to the
41
Figure 2. System block diagram
42
grid. The power of the generating equipment satisfied. In the distributed system, the fuel cells of
installed in House C from House A can be sup- F/C (1) to F/C (16) all have the same capacity and
plied to any house through a microgrid. As shown dynamic characteristics. The electric transmission
in Figure 2 (b), in analysis, the load pattern of loss of a microgrid is considered in this analysis.
power is given to a system and Action 1-Action
3 are selected by an IF conditional branch accord- Response Characteristics of System
ing to the volume of load (u), and the capacity Configuration Equipment
(h0, h1, h2 ) of the generating equipment installed
in each house. In Action 1-Action 3, as shown in Generation Characteristics
Figure 2 (c), the production of electricity of each of Engine Generator
power generator is calculated and outputted. As
shown in Figure 2 (b), the dynamic characteristics The model of the generation characteristics of an
of each power generator are expressed with a PI engine generator installed in the independent mi-
controller (Controller 0-Controller 2), output crogrid assumed in this Section is shown in Figure
limitation equipment (Limiter 0-Limiter 2), and 3 (b) (Katrasnik et al., 2005). This model represents
a transfer function. the response characteristics when adjusting the
engine supply fuel to control the production of
Capacity of Engine Generator electricity, and outputting power to a grid through
and Fuel Cell an interconnection device. The settling time when
converging in the range of 5% of the targeted
In the system in Figure 2, an engine generator output value of power by adjusting the control
with a generation capacity of 3 kW is installed in parameter of PI (proportionality-integration) con-
House A, and base load operation is performed. troller can be set at about 15 seconds. The value
Furthermore, a fuel cell system with a generation of the PI control parameter and transfer function
capacity of 1 kW is installed in 16 buildings of is shown in Figure 3(b).
House B to House Q, and electric power and heat
are supplied to each house. The number of installed Generation Characteristics of Fuel Cell
fuel cells in a distributed system is determined from
the electricity demand pattern shown in Figure 3 Figure 3 (c) shows the test results of the response
used in analysis. The electricity demand pattern of characteristics when inputting a step load of 70%
Figure 3 is a measurement result of an individual of a load factor into PEFC trial production as an
house for representative days in February in Sap- experiment (Obara & Kudo, 2005). The response
poro, Japan (Narita K., 1996). On the horizontal characteristics shown in Figure 3(d) are obtained
axis of this figure, the sampling time of analysis from the results of Figure 3 (c), and requires the
and the time assumed (Assumed time) are written transfer function of a primary-delay-system so
together. In this electricity demand pattern, the that these characteristics may be approximated.
minimum load is determined as a value of the The equations for the transfer function are shown
base load (in the example in Figure 3, it could be in Figure 3(d). To be exact, although the transfer
3 kW). In the case of a centralization system, there function is considered depending on the load
is one set of installed fuel cells, and, in the case of factor, it is not taken into consideration because
a distributed system, a fuel cell of 1 kW maximum this difference is small as a result of examination.
output is installed in each house. Moreover, let the The settling time of a fuel cell when generating 1
fuel cell capacity of the centralization system be a kW maximum output is about 3 seconds (Obara
value where the maximum load added to a grid is & Kudo, 2005).
43
Figure 3. Characteristics of transient response
44
Output Characteristics of Moreover, Figure (b) shows the characteristics of

City Gas Reformer the amount of hydrogen supplied to a fuel cell,
and generation and exhaust heat output. Figure
Figure 3 (e) shows the model of the step input 4 (c) shows the relation between the load factor
given to the city gas reformer of a load factor of a city gas reformer and reformer efficiency.
when it is between 100 and 80%, and between 100 Here, the value that divides the calorific power
and 50% (Obara & Kudo, 2005; Obara & Kudo, of the hydrogen contained in the reforming gas
2006). Figure 3 (f) shows the response result of by the calorific power of the city gas supplied to
the load input to Figure 3(e), and the transfer a reformer is defined as reformer efficiency. The
function of a primary-delay-system shows this city gas supplied to a reformer has the object of
response characteristic in this figure. In addition to producing of reforming gas, and the object of being
fuel cells, although it is considered that a transfer the heat source of a reformer. In analysis, a load
function influences the load factor directly, since factor is calculated from the capacity of a fuel cell,
there is no big difference, the result of Figure 3 and the quantity of the load, and the generation
(g) is used in the range managed in this Section. efficiency is calculated using the relation shown
in Figure 4(a). Moreover, the amount of exhaust
Inverter and Interconnection Device heat of a fuel cell is obtained by giving a power
load to Figure 4(b). Because the load factor of a
An inverter uses a cheap voltage control form, reformer is calculable from the load and capacity,
and converts and outputs input power to regular reformer efficiency is determined if this value is
voltage and frequency. An inverter requires 120 given to Figure 4(c).
ms to stabilize voltage and frequency within
95% of a regular value (Obara & Kudo, 2006). Control Variables and Analysis
Figure 3 (g) expresses the transfer function of this Method
inverter with the primary-delay-system. When
switching the power of the single phase 100 V The response characteristics that inputted step
by an interconnection device, the duration of the load into the independent microgrid shown in
change is about 10 microseconds. However, since Figure 2 (a) for 0.2-, 0.6-, and 1.0-kW loads are
it is necessary to synchronize the frequency by shown in Figures 4(a)-(c) (Obara & Kudo, 2005,
control, the interconnection device assumed in this 2006). The response characteristics of a fuel cell
Section sets the change time to 12 microseconds. changes with the control parameter set up with a
As a result, the transfer function of the intercon- controller, and changes and analyzes the param-
nection device by the primary-delay- system is eters of PI control in Figures 4(d)-(f). As shown
the value of Figure 3 (g). in Figure 4(f), the result of the 1.0-kW loads does
not depend on the rise time and the settling time of
Generation Efficiency of the control parameter. In the result of the 0.2-kW
Fuel Cell System loads, although the rise time of P = 12.0, I = 1.0 is
short; as for the settling time, P = 1.0 and I = 1.0
Figures 4(a)-(c) shows the output characteristics are short. When P = 12.0 and I = 1.0 is compared
of a fuel cell and a city gas reformer obtained in with P = 1.0 and I = 1.0, as for the rise time, P =
the experiments. Figure 4 (a) shows the relation 12.0 and I = 1.0 is shorter, and the settling time
between the load factor of a fuel cell and the is almost the same, and the overshooting is large.
generation efficiency assumed in this Section. Moreover, in the result of P = 5.0 and I = 1.0, the
45
Figure 4. Output characterisics of a fuel cell system with city-gas reformer, and characteristics of output
of the system
steady state error of low load is large, and is not The dynamic characteristics of a microgrid are
suitable as a control variable. Therefore, in the analyzed using MATLAB (Ver.7.0) and Simulink
analysis example of the following Section, the (Ver.6.0) of Math Works Cooperation. However,
control parameter of a fuel cell is analyzed as P in the analysis example of the following Section,
= 1.0, I = 1.0 and P = 12.0, I = 1.0. the solver to be used is made into the Runge-Kutta
46
method, it is calculated, and the sampling time of fuel cell No. 1, No. 8 and No. 12, respectively.
of the analysis is determined so that error is less When the response results of an engine generator
than 0.01%. (Figure 5(c)) is compared with the response re-
sults of a fuel cell (Figure 5(d) - (f)), there is little
Load Response Characteristics output vibration and the settling time is short in a
of Microgrid fuel cell. If the load added to a grid increases, the
number of fuel cells to be operated is increased
Step Response Characteristics corresponding to the load. According to the load
of a grid, a larger number of fuel cells is operated
The response characteristics when inputting the such as No. 1, No. 8, and No. 12 (Figures 5(d),
step load of Figure 5(a) into the microgrid shown in (e), (f)). How the dynamic characteristics of a
Figure 2 (a) is investigated. Figure 5 (b) to Figure microgrid would change according to the differ-
5 (f) shows the analysis results of a response of ence in the control parameter of the PI controller
the microgrid. However, the parameter of the PI of a fuel cell system was investigated.
controller of all the fuel cell systems was set to P The results of investigating the response char-
= 1.0 and I = 1.0. Figure 5(b) shows the result of acteristics of the grid for the control parameter
a response of a microgrid, Figure 5(c) shows the with P = 12.0 and I = 1.0 are shown in Figure 6.
result of a response of an engine generator, Figure Figure 6 (a) shows P = 12.0 and I = 1.0, and is a
5(d) to Figure 5(f) show the results of a response response result when inputting the step load of
Figure 5. Step response characteristics of the system. The control parameter of the fuell cell system is
P=1.0, and I=1.0.
47
Figure 6. Analysis results of step input for microgrid system
48
Figure 5 (a) into a microgrid. When Figure 5(b) power supply. However, the control parameter of
is compared with Figure 6(a), it shows that the a fuel cell system strongly affects the settling time
overshooting in Figure 6(a) is larger. The analysis and overshooting.
results of the power load and settling time when
the control parameters of a fuel cell system are P Application of Electric Power Demand
= 1.0, I = 1.0 and P = 12.0, I = 1.0 is shown is Pattern of House
Figure 6(b). The period until convergence of less
than 5% of the load by the power supplied to a The electric power demand pattern of an individual
grid is defined as the settling time. From the result house in Sapporo is inputted into the microgrid
of Figure 6(b), a load does not depend on the shown in Figure 2(a), and response characteristics
settling time of a control parameter of 15 kW or are investigated. The response results of having
less. However, when a load exceeds 16 kW, con- inputted the electric-power-demand pattern of
trol parameter P = 12.0, I = 1.0 of a fuel cell Figure 3 into the microgrid are shown in Figures
system is about 5 seconds short compared with 7 and 8. In the analysis of Figures 7 and 8, the
P = 1.0, I = 1.0. Figure 6(c) shows the analysis control parameter of the PI control device of a
result concerning the difference in the power load fuel cell system was set up with P = 1.0, I = 1.0
of a microgrid, and the power supplied to a grid and P =12.0, I = 1.0, respectively. As for over-
from EG and PEFC. The difference in the power shooting, in these analysis results, P = 12.0, I =
load and electric power supply is due to a time 1.0 are larger than P = 1.0, I = 1.0. Moreover,
delay in the response of EG and the fuel cell. The immediately after startup (past 0:00), the reason
result of Figure 6(c) shows that the difference in for many fluctuation elements is based on the
the control parameter of a fuel cell does not affect starting characteristics of an engine generator, as
the difference in the power load or electric shown in Figure 7 (b) and Figure 8 (b).
Figure 7. Response results analyzed using an electricity demand pattern of a house in Febryary of Sap-
poro. Control parameter of the fuel cell system is P=1.0 and I=1.0.
49
Figure 8. Response results analyzed using an electricity demand pattern of a house in Febryary of Sap-
poro. Control parameter of the fuel cell system is P=12.0 and I=1.0.
The response results of a fuel cell No. 1, No. Figure 8-1 do not change. In order to change the
3, No. 5, and No. 9 are shown in (f) from (c) of characteristics of Figure 9, it is necessary to im-
Figures 7 and 8. The analysis results of Figures prove the time constant of each piece of equipment.
7 and 8 have large overshooting when load fluc-
tuation is added to a fuel cell and an engine Generation Efficiency of Fuel Cell
generator. As for the analysis results of the suf-
ficiency ratio of power supply to the power demand By the fuel cell microgrid of a centralization sys-
amount of a microgrid, P = 1.0, I = 1.0 is shown tem and a distributed system, the analysis results
in Figure 9 (a), and P = 12.0, I = 1.0 is shown in of generation efficiency when supplying power
Figure 9 (b). The time when the difference in the to 17 houses is shown in Figure 10. The average
sufficiency ratio of power supply and demand is value of the generation efficiency of each fuel cell
large, it will be the assumed time in Figure 9 (a) under operation defines the generation efficiency
and Figure 9 (b) at 05:00 and 17:00. As Figure 3 of the fuel cell in a distributed system. The genera-
shows, at such times, load fluctuation is large tion efficiency of a centralization system and a
compared with other times. A supply-and-demand distributed system has the following differences.
difference occurs at two or more peaks exceeding
100% in the analysis result of Figure 9 (b) com- 1. Although change of the generation efficiency
pared with Figure 9 (a). The analysis result of the of a centralization system is smooth, the
sufficiency ratio of the power supply and demand efficiency of a distributed system has large
in all of the representative days is 99.63% in fluctuation.
Figure 9 (b) and 99.74% in Figure 9 (a). Even if 2. And, because efficiency fluctuation of a
it searches by trial and error for the control pa- distributed system is large, there are large
rameter of a controller, the characteristics of over shoots.
50
Figure 9. Difference in amount power demanded and amount of power supply
3. The change of the generation efficiency system has about 3% higher efficiency than the
through a representation day of a distributed centralization system. This is because the fall area
system is larger than a centralization system. of the generation efficiency by the partial-load
operation of PEFC is small in the distributed
When the electric power demand pattern of the system with number control compared with the
representative day shown in Figure 3 is introduced centralization system. Therefore, the distributed
into a microgrid, the generation efficiency of a system with number control of the generation
fuel cell of a centralization system is 25.5% and of efficiency of the microgrid using PEFC is more
a distributed system, it is 28.2%. The distributed advantageous than the centralization system.
51
Figure 10. Fuel cell efficiency results analyzed using an electricity demand pattern of 17 houses in
February in Sapporo. The control parameter of the fuel cell system is P=12.0 and I=1.0.
Conclusions As a result, the following Conclusions were

obtained.
An engine generator with a power generation
capacity of 3 kW was installed in a house, cor- 1. The settling time (period to converge at
responding to the base load, and the dynamic 5% of range of the output target) and over-
characteristics of the microgrid at the time of in- shooting of a microgrid can be changed by
stalling a fuel cell system with a power generation parameter setting of the controller of a fuel
capacity of 1 kW in 16 houses was investigated cell. The settling time of this system was 10
by numerical analysis. to 15 seconds.
52
2. The cause of the supply-and-demand differ- electric power output and the heat power output
ence in the power of a microgrid is a response with load fluctuations. Thus far, the transient
delay of the generating equipment, and the response characteristics of the electric power and
control parameter of the controller is not the heat power of proton-exchange membrane
related. It is necessary to improve the time fuel cell (PEFC) cogeneration, with a town gas
constant of each generator. reformer and an auxiliary heat source has been
3. The fall in the generation efficiency of PEFC investigated (Obara & Kudo, 2005). The speed of
by partial-load operation can be reduced response of power generation of a cell stack of
by a distributed system with the control a PEFC system is very quick, and if the control
of a number of units compared with the variables of a controller are set up suitably, it is
centralization system. This is because the thought, from results of an investigation, that the
fall area of the generation efficiency by the use of consumer electronics will be satisfactory
partial-load operation of PEFC is small in (Hamelin et al., 2001; Hatziadoniu, 2002; Kourosh,
a distributed system with number control 2004; Silva et al., 2003). On the other hand, the
compared with a centralization system. speed of response of a reformer is slow, compared
to a PEFC stack. The response characteristics of
the overall system at the time of providing a rapid
DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS electric power load to the integrated system by
OF A PEFCL SYSTEM FOR a reformer, a fuel cell stack, an inverter, and an
INDIVIDUAL HOUSES interconnection device, are not known.
Therefore, this chapter considers the determi-
Introduction nation method for the set-up of control variables
using a controller, which controls the electric
If small generating equipment is introduced into power output of the system. The response char-
individual houses and exhaust heat is recovered, acteristics of the electric power, for setting the
the utilization efficiency of the energy will increase optimal control variables of proportional action
greatly compared with existing large-scale power and integral action for the system controller for
generation systems. In particular, the fuel cell sys- operating the system, are investigated (Silva et
tem is attracting attention because the exhaust gas al., 2003).
is clean and the power generation efficiency is high The response characteristics of systems such
(Obara & Kudo, 2005). Compared with the load as time delay and overshooting change by the
fluctuation characteristics by the energy demand difference in control variables. Moreover, if it is
side, the dynamic characteristics of a fuel cell sys- controlled to follow a system at loads that fluctuate
tem need to be rapid. If the response characteristics rapidly for a short time, a difference in the load
of a fuel cell system are slow, the demand of the and the response will occur. The magnitude of
demand person cannot be instantly satisfied. As this difference depends on the fuel consumption
a result, the demand-and-supply balance becomes of a system, with the response characteristics
unstable, and power supply becomes impossible at depending on the control variables. Therefore,
worst. In order to introduce and apply small-scale it is expected that the response characteristics of
fuel cell cogeneration to a building, it is necessary a system will change if the control variables are
to investigate the response characteristics of the changed, and the amount of consumption of town
53
gas changes as a result. If the control variables of System Description

the controller are changed, the transient response
characteristics, such as settling time (defined in Outline of System
this chapter as the time for a value to become less
than 5% of a set value), overshoot, rise time, and The PEFC cogeneration system outline examined
steady state error, will change (Kurata, 1999). in this chapter is shown in Figure 11. The town
However, if the control variables are changed, gas supplied to the system includes a quantity that
it is expected that the town gas consumption in is changed into reforming gas by a reformer (
a system also changes. Therefore, if the control Qrm ,t ), and a quantity consumed by a burner as
variables are not set to the most optimal values, an object for the heat source of a reforming reac-
the power generation efficiency of the system tion (Qcb,t ). The relationship between the supply,
will be low. Moreover, the power load pattern of
the sum of the two town gas quantities (
an individual house is a collection of loads that
usually goes up and down rapidly for short periods Qrm ,t + Qcb,t ), and the electric energy output of
of time (Kurata, 1999). Thus far, there have been the system ( Esys ,t ) is shown in Figure 12 (Ibaraki
no studies on changes in electric power generation Prefecture Government Office of Education, 2002;
efficiency when operating a system, wherein the Mikkola, 2001). The calorific power of hydrogen
load pattern fluctuates rapidly. Therefore, in this in the reforming gas generated by the reformer
chapter, an electric power load pattern, fluctuat- divided by the supply quantity of heat of the town
ing at random for a short time, is introduced into gas is defined as the reformer efficiency rm ,t at
the PEFC cogeneration, and the operation of the
sampling time t . rm ,t is set at 73% in this system
system and changes in the power generation ef-
(Obara & Kudo, 2005). The electrode areas of the
ficiency are clarified. The optimal values of the
anode and the cathode in the fuel cell stack are
control variables set up with a controller are also
set to 0.5 m2, respectively, and the output charac-
investigated.
teristics of a single cell in the fuel cell assumed
Figure 11. Fuel cell cogeneration system for individual houses
54
Figure 12. The power output of the system outlet. The anode and cathode areas of the fuel cell stack are
0.5 m2 respectively. The reformer efficiency is 75%.
in this chapter is shown in Figure 13 (Ibaraki the carbon monoxide concentration of the reform-
Prefecture Government Office of Education, 2002; ing gas in the fuel cell stack inlet to be 10 ppm
Mikkola, 2001). The maximum power generation or less, a carbon monoxide oxidization system is
efficiency of the fuel cell stack is 48%. prepared. Although carbon monoxide is burned
using a catalyst and converted into carbon dioxide
A. Efficiency of a Carbon Monoxide Oxidiza- in the carbon monoxide oxidization system, it
tion System and an Inverter is assumed in this chapter that nearly 2% of hy-
A significant quantity of water is present in the drogen in the reforming gas will also be burned.
reforming gas produced by the reformer. Therefore, Therefore, the efficiency of carbon monoxide
the reforming gas is cooled by an air supply from oxidization system in this chapter is 98%. Reform-
a blower with a dryer system and condensation ing gas is supplied to the fuel cell stack from the
separation of the water is carried out. In order for carbon monoxide oxidization system, generating
Figure 13. Singl cell performance generated with reformed gas and air. Operating temoerature 333 K,
and reactant flow stoichiometries 2.0 both hydrogen and oxygen.
55
electricity, and the generated DC electric power fuel cell system and commercial electric power
is changed into AC power of a fixed frequency can be supplied to the demand side through an
using an inverter, which is then supplied to an interconnection device. The auxiliary machinery
interconnection device. The efficiency of the of the system are operated with commercial elec-
inverter was set at 95% in this chapter. tric power. The auxiliary machinery includes an
exhaust heat-circulating pump (PP) for the fuel cell
B. The HeatSsupply Method stack, a blower for the reformer burners (BW1),
The exhaust heat of the reformer and the fuel cell a blower for the dryers (BW2) and a blower for
stack is supplied to a heat storage tank (ST), and the fuel cell cathode (BW3). By using commands
the heat of tap water is exchanged for the heat stor- from Controller 1 and Controller 2, the switches
age medium with a heat exchanger installed in the SW1, SW2, SW3, and SW4 are operated, and the
heat storage tank, which then supplies hot-water starting and stopping of the auxiliary machinery
to the demand side. The thermal storage medium are performed.
is contained in the heat storage tank. When the
exhaust heat exceeds the heat demand, the heat System-Control Block Diagram
transfer medium is heated and the heat is stored.
The response time of the exhaust heat output in the Figure 14 shows the control block diagram of the
reformer and the fuel cell stack is long compared system shown in Figure 11. The time constants
with the response time of the heat output from for each piece of equipment shown in this figure
thermal storage (Morner & Klein, 2001). There- are determined by test evaluation data and refer-
fore, in order to obtain a quick response, the heat ence data, the details of which are given in refer-
in the thermal storage is given priority and used ence (Obara & Kudo, 2005). The input values
first. When the amount of exhaust heat exceeds used in the analysis are shown in Table 1. How-
the heat demand, it is necessary to release the heat. ever, the power load and heat load are given in a
In this case, valves VA2 and VA3 are operated and step input. Investigation of the transient response
the excess heat is released from the system. characteristics can be performed by providing an
electric power load and a heat power load to the
C. The Controller and Auxiliary Machinery system shown in Figure14. For the electric
This system has two controllers, as shown in Fig- power load, random changes can be added for
ure 11. Controller 1 is for the power generation every sampling time. For each controller, limiters
system, and Controller 2 is for the heat supply are included so that extremely large overshoots
system. In each controller, the control variable are not generated for control by Controller 1 and
for proportional action (P action), integral ac- Controller 2. Subsystems 1 through 8 represent
tion (I action) and derivative action (D action) the response characteristics of the exhaust heat
can be set up. In Controller 1, the temperature of output in a fuel cell stack, and details are shown
the fuel cell stack and the amount of electricity in Figure 15. The parameters a and b in this
demand are the input data, and in Controller 2, figure express the time constant and the constant
the heat-transfer-medium temperature of the heat part of a primary delay system transfer function,
storage tank and the heat amount demand are the respectively. The exhaust heat of the fuel cell stack
input data. The electric power generated by the serves as a nonlinear output to the electric power
56
Figure 14. System control block diagram
load (Obara & Kudo, 2005). In this study, the The Analysis Method
relationship between electric power load and the
exhaust heat output of a fuel cell is divided into The transient response characteristics of the
eight zones. The relationship between the electric electric power output in this system are analyzed
power load in each zone and the exhaust heat using MATLAB (Ver.7.0) / Simulink (Ver.6.0) of
output are approximated by the linear formulas Math Work. The Runge-Kutta method was used
expressed with Subsystem 1 to Subsystem 8. as the numerical method (Dormand, et al.,1980,
57
Table 1. Input data used in analysis
Figure 15. Block diagram of the subsystem from 1 to 8. The parameters and represent the time constant
part of a primary delay system transfer function, representively.
Forsythe, et al.,1977, Kahaner, et al.,1989). The power load input and the heat power load input,
sampling time of the analysis was calculated respectively, and both power loads are zero be-
automatically and the analysis error is less than tween the sampling times t1 and t0 . At sampling
several percent. timet1 , although the step input of the electric
power load and the heat power load is carried out
System Control in the system, the heat power load is fixed until
t3 , and a still higher step input is given at t2 for
The Input of the System
the electric power load. The electric power load
in individual houses fluctuates up and down
The operational model of the system shown in
within a short period. Therefore, in the analysis
Figure 21 is shown in Figure 16. Figures 16 (a)
in the following section, random load fluctuations
and (b) are the models which show the electric
58
Figure 16. System operation model

are given for every sampling time in 5% and
10% intervals of the range of the electric power
load input into the system. For the analyses shown
in Figure 17 through Figure 21 described in the
following section, the time from t0 to t1 is 5
seconds, the time from t1 to t3 is 20 seconds, and
the time from t3 to t4 is 5 seconds.
Control of Startup
Figure 16 (c) shows the model of the switches

and the valves of the system operated by the
controller of the operation. The symbols in this
figure correspond to the symbols shown in Figure
11. During the startup of the system, air is sup-
plied to the burner, which is the heat source for
the reformer and the dryer system. For this,
switches SW1 and SW2 are turned ON by a com-
mand from Controller 1, and blowers BW1 and
BW2 are operated. At sampling time t1 , commands
are given to SW3 by Controller 1, and BW3, which
supplies air to the cathode of the fuel cell stack,
is operated. Simultaneously, a control command
is given by Controller 1 to VA1 so that valve VA1
can be opened. As shown in Figure 16 (d), op-
eration of the fuel cell system follows electric
power load. It depends, for the response charac-
teristics of the electric power, on transient response
characteristics, such as that of the reformer, the
fuel cell stack, and the inverter. Therefore, com-
pared with the characteristics of the input shown
in Figure 16 (a), time delay, overshoot and steady
state error cause the response characteristics shown
in Figure 16 (d).
Control of Heat Output
Since the speed of response of the heat exhaust

output from the fuel cell stack and the reformer is
slow, heat output takes time. If the temperature T2
of the fuel cell stack rises, SW4 will be turned ON
by an order from Controller 1, and the heat exhaust
circulating pump PP will be operated. Figure 16
59
Figure 17. Characteristics of electric power output of the system
(e) shows the model for this operation. Further- tank. Finally, when the heat exhaust exceeds the
more, when the fuel cell stack and the reformer thermal storage capacity of the heat storage tank,
of heat exhausts exceed the heat amount demand, valves VA2 and VA3 are operated by Controller
as shown in Figure 16 (f), thermal storage of the 2, and as shown in Figure 16 (g), surplus heat is
excessive heat is carried out using a heat storage released from the system.
60
Figure 18. Electric power generation error for Figure 19. Electriv power generation efficiency
the system of the system
61
Figure 20. The settling time for electric power

Town Gas Consumption
generation for the system
Figure 16 (h) shows the model for town gas
consumption in the system. Since town gas con-
sumption is dependent on the amount of electric
power generated by the fuel cell, the transient
characteristics of the town gas consumption are
the same as shown in Figure 16 (d). With control
variables set up by Controller 1, the output charac-
teristics of Figure 16 (d) differ greatly. Therefore,
the town gas consumption in the system also
changes with the value of the control variables
set up by Controller 1.
Results and Discussion
Control Variables and the Response
The analysis results of the response characteristics

of control variables and electric power set up by
Controller 1 are shown in Figure 17. Figures 17
(a), (b), and (c) show the analysis results of the
response characteristics due to the difference
in the control variable of P action and I action
under each electric power load. When P action
is independently used to control this system, the
steady-state error is large. Moreover, for the use
of the D action, such as D control, PD control,
and PID control, the response characteristics of
the system become extremely unstable. Therefore,
in this analysis, independent control by P action
and control by the D action are not used. The
results in Figures 18 (a), (b), and (c) show that
the optimal values of the control variable used by
Controller 1 differ in the magnitude of the electric
power load. Therefore, if the control variables
of the system controller are changed with the
magnitude of electric power load, it is predicted
that the transient response characteristics of the
system will become favorable.
62
Figure 21. The optimal areas for PI control for different electric power losds
The Response Characteristics of the P operation is large. This tendency is strong as

System there are fewer amounts of electric power output
from the system than the amount of theoretical
1. The Amount of Electric Power Output electric power loading, and the rate of load fluc-
If a step load is provided to the fuel cell system, tuation becomes large by all the results shown in
until the operation of the system reaches a settling Figure 18. As Figure 17 showed, the reason for
time, the electric power outputs will go up and this is that each sampling time until the response
down along with the load. The amount of integra- of the system achieves a settling time. Also, the
tion of the electric power load for a definite period electric power outputs are less than the value of
of time (this is written below as the amount of electric power load in many cases. Moreover,
theoretical electric power loading) differs from the control variable set up with a controller has a
the electric energy output by the system, because large influence on the rising time of a response.
of the upper and lower sides of the electric power For this reason, the results shown in Figure 18 of
output. Figure 18 shows the calculation results of the amount of electric power output in the system
the difference in the amount of theoretical electric is also smaller than amount of theoretical elec-
power loading and the amount of system electric tric power loading as the rate of load fluctuation
power outputs (err), when adding electric power becomes large.
load with fluctuations shown in this figure to the
system for 20 seconds. The results of 5% and 2. Electric Power Generation Efficiency
10% of the load fluctuation rate in Figures 18 The electric power generation efficiency of the
(a), (b), and (c) are not shown for the zone where system can be calculated from the electric energy
P operation is large. The reason for this is that the generated by the system by dividing it by town
calculation results diverge in the zone where the gas consumption. However, the response charac-
63
teristics of the electric power output from the load fluctuations of the electric power load as well
system do not satisfy the amount of theoretical as the electric power loads themselves. Although
electric power loading, as Figure 19 showed. a reasonable settling time is obtained for the case
Therefore, the following equation defines the where the rate of load fluctuation is 0 for 0.2 kW
electric power generation efficiency e of the electric power load, the control variable of P action
system in this chapter. is limited by nearly 5, and the control variable of
I action is a large zone. When the power loads are
e = (Et / Vg ) + err (1) 0.5 kW and 1.0 kW, the control variable zone of I
action by each load is 3 or more. For the results of
the settling time in 5% rate of load fluctuation,
Although the cold start of a reformer takes any power loads have the same value and these
about 1 hour (Zhang, et al., 2004), in this analysis, zones of a control variable are also the same.
a reformer changes into the condition of already However, at 10% of rate of load fluctuation,
having completed the warm-up. Therefore, the the control variable zones of settling time differ
quantity of gas used for the setup operation of the in the amount of electric power load. The control
reformer is not included in the town gas consump- variable zones of a settling time differ greatly by
tion, Vg . The control variables of P action and I electric power load and rate of load fluctuation
action, and the relationship of e are calculated because the control variables to set up have a
for the rate of load fluctuations of the electric strong influence against the transient response
power load for different electric power loads, and characteristics of the system.
these results are shown in Figure 20. The maximum
electric power generation efficiency of this system 4. Selection of Control Variables
is 33%. For each load, except for the 1.0 kW The control variables of optimal P action and I
electric power load, the system can be operated action for every power load are chosen from each
result of the transient response characteristics of
with a high value of e by making the control
the fuel cell system shown in Figures 18, 19 and 20.
variable of I action about 1 to 2, and by making
These results are shown in Figure 21. The reason
the control variable of P action about 5 or less.
for having determined the control variable zone
For 1.0 kW of electric power load, the operation
in 0.2 kW of power loads in Figure 21, the error
of the system at the high value of e of the control (err) shown in Figure 18 (a) is small in I = 0.7 or
variable zones of P action and I action are narrow, more zones, the power generation efficiency of
ranging from 1 to 2 for the control variable of I the system shown in Figure 19 (a) is high in I =
action, and 1 or less for the control variable of P 1.0 or more zones, and also, the settling time of
action. For this reason, the maximum electric the system shown in Figure 20 (a) is a zone with
power load which the system can respond is 1 P = 5.0 and I = 2.0 to 7.0. The control variable
kW, and it is possible that the zones of the optimal zones in other electric power loads considered to
control variables set up with a controller are lim- be optimal were determined similar to the example
ited. of 0.2 kW electric power load described at the
top. Using the control variables of P action and
3. Settling Time I action from Figure 19, the transient response
The calculation results for the settling time are characteristics for the power output of the fuel
shown in Figure 20. In the analysis results of cell system are calculated, and the results are
settling time, the reasonable zones of the control shown in Figure 22. In the system controller, the
variables P and I change greatly with the rate of electric power output in the system over 1.0kW
64
Figure 22. The electric power response characteristics of the system analyzed with optimal P and I values
is restricted, the transient response characteristics istics of the power output of the system in Figures
for 1.0 kW electric power load in Figure 20 do 24 (a), (b), and (c) are the same. Figure 25 shows
not have an overshoot. the response results of the exhaust heat output by
the fuel cell stack and the reformer. The exhaust
Operation of the System by the heat output of the fuel cell stack and the reform-
Selected Control Variables er shows a late speed of response. Therefore, the
heat exhaust output of the fuel cell stack and the
The simulation of the operation pattern at the time reformer requires progress of time from starting
of the power load input in Figure 16 (a) into the of the system. As one method of improving the
system is carried out using the control variables speed of response of the heat, the period shift of
of P action and I action shown in Figure 21. In the heat supply-and-demand by thermal storage
Figure 16 (a), the time t0 to t1 is 5 seconds, time is effective.
t1 to t2 and time t2 to t3 are 100 seconds, re- Figure 26 shows the calculation results of the
amount of town gas consumed by the system. The
spectively, and time t3 to t4 is 5 seconds. The
consumption of town gas is hardly influenced by
reason for the period of t1 to t3 being 200 seconds the rate of load fluctuations of the electric power
is that the time period needs to be sufficient in like the response results of the electric power
order to perform observation of the transient re- shown in Figure 24. If the control variables set
sponse characteristics of the system, and because up with the controller of the fuel cell system are
the differences in the responses of the amounts able to be set up by the results in Figure 21 ac-
of electric power cannot be compared if a period cording to the magnitude of electric power load,
is long. Moreover, time t1 to t2 is 0.2 kW of the characteristics of transient response of a set-
electric power load and time t2 to t3 is 0.5 kW. tling time, the steady state error, the overshoot,
Figure 23 shows the power load patterns input and the rising time can be changed to the best
into the system. Figure 24 shows the calculation conditions, and the system can be operated. More-
results of the electric power output response of over, by changing the control variables set up with
the system corresponding to the load inputs in the controller of the fuel cell system for the mag-
Figure 23. The results of the response character- nitude of electric power loads, town gas consump-
65
Figure 23. Electric power load patterns input into the system
66
Figure 24. Response characteristics of the electric power output of the system
67
Figure 25. Heat power output of the fuel cell stack and the reformer. Electric power load fluctuations
are 0% , 5% , and 10% .
( )
Figure 26. Town gas consumption Qrm ,t + Qcb,t as a function of time. Electric power load fluctuations
are 0% , 5% , and 10% .
tion and electric power generation efficiency are the system response is influenced by the control
hardly influenced by additions of fluctuations of variable. So, in this chapter, the relation of load
the electric power load to the system in a short with fluctuations, control variables, and settling
period. time was investigated by numerical analysis. As
a result, this pchapter showed that the operation
Conclusions was minimally influenced by load fluctuations and
could be performed by changing control variables
The determination method of the control vari- with the magnitude of the electric power loads
ables of a system controller, when introducing added to the system. If the control variables of the
and carrying out load-following operation of the system controller are changeable with the mag-
PEFC cogeneration to the electric power loads nitude of electric power load, even if a change in
that randomly go up and down, for individual the electric power load in a short period is added
houses was considered. In particular, since the to a system, town gas consumption and the power
electric power load pattern of an individual house generation efficiency are minimally influenced
consists of loads that often rapidly rise and fall and can continue operation. Moreover, in order
in a short time, the difference in the load and to maintain the power generation efficiency of
68
the system, it was shown that the selected area Katrasnik, T. et al. (2005). Analysis of the dy-
of the control variable of P and I operation must namic response improvement of a turbocharged
be very narrow. diesel engine driven alternating current generat-
ing set. Energy Conversion and Management,
46(18-19), 28382855. doi:10.1016/j.encon-
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70
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
a : The time constant in a primary delay system transfer function [s]

b : Constant part in a primary delay system transfer function
D: Control variable of derivative action
E : Electric power [kW]
Et : Amount of theoretical electric power loading [J]
err : Difference of amount of theoretical electric power loading and the amount of system electric
power outputs [%]
H : Heat power [kW]
H : Waste heat power [kW]
h : Capacity of generation [kW]
I: Control variable of integral action
P: Control variable of proportional action
Q: Quantity of flow [m3/s]
t : Sampling time [s]
u : Power demand [W]
Vg : Heat quantity of town gas consumption [J]
v : Electric power output [W]
e : Electric power generation efficiency [%]
rm ,t : Reformer efficiency [%]
Equipment Symbols
cb : Burner for the heat sources of the reformer

f : Fuel cell
ra : Radiator
rm : Reformer
sys : System
71
72
Chapter 3
Effective Improvement in
Generation Efficiency of
a Fuel Cell Microgrid
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Effective Improvement in Generation Efficiency due to Partition
Cooperation Management of a Fuel Cell Microgrid and Equipment Plan of Compound Interconnection
Microgrid Composed from Diesel Power. In the 1st section, the PEFC microgrid is explored as a dis-
tributed power supply with little environmental impact. The proposed system obtains results with high
generation efficiency compared with the central system of a fuel cell microgrid. An independent microgrid
that compounds and connects a diesel power plant generator and PEFC is proposed in the 2nd section.
A complex community model and residential area model were used for analysis.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION divided into multiple and each is optimized for

the purpose of maximization of power generation
The summary of the 1st sectionis as follows. The efficiency. In the cooperation management of a
PEFC microgrid is expected to be a distributed microgrid, large fluctuations in load, or increases
power supply with little environmental impact. and decreases in a building, can be followed with
However, if a microgrid is installed in an urban a grid using a system-interconnection device. The
area, a generation efficiency of less than 21% on system proposed in this study obtained results
an all-year basis is expected. Generally, in plan- with high generation efficiency (from 21.1% to
ning an electric power network using a microgrid, 27.6%) compared with the central system (gen-
all the target buildings are connected and electric eration efficiency is 20.6% to 24.8%) of a fuel
power is supplied. In this study, a microgrid is cell microgrid.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch003
Effective Improvement in Generation Efficiency of a Fuel Cell Microgrid
The summary of the 2nd section is as follows. the operation plan of a microgrid, as well as the
Although the microgrid using a diesel power plant capacity of the energy equipment based on the
power generator (DEG) has a high possibility of power demand pattern of the buildings connected
implementation, there is a problem in the emis- to a grid. Therefore, to produce high generation
sion of carbon dioxide gas. Then, an independent efficiency of a microgrid, a power generator that
microgrid that compounds and connects a diesel can maintain high efficiency is required over a
power plant generator and a proton-exchange mem- large range from high load to low load. However,
brane fuel cell (PEFC) is proposed. The operation it is difficult to maintain high efficiency over a
of DEG is controlled to correspond to the base wide operating range with the proton-exchange
load of whole CIM (Compound Interconnection membrane fuel cell (PEFC) with a reformer. Then,
Microgrid), and, on the other hand, the operation the method of operating a water electrolyzer (Obara
of PEFC is controlled to follow the load fluctuation & Kudo, 2005a), and the method of divides a fuel
of CIM. In this section, the generation capacity of cell and a reformer (Obara & Kudo, 2005b) were
DEG and PEFC installed into CIM and the grid examined at the time of partial-load operation.
route of PEFC were analyzed with the object of The power load added to a microgrid is decided
maximizing generation efficiency. A complex by composing the power demand characteristics of
community model and residential area model were two or more buildings. However, the example of
used for analysis. In this section, the microgrid considered the relation between the loads pattern
concerning the urban area (18 buildings) in Tokyo of a building and the power generation efficiency
was investigated. From the results of analysis, it of a microgrid is not reported. If the power demand
was confirmed that CIM could be operated with pattern of a certain building reduces the generation
a high generation efficiency of 27.1 to 29.9%. efficiency of the whole microgrid, this building
sets the grid of another network with a group of
other buildings, and overall generation efficiency
EFFECTIVE IMPROVEMENT IN may be improved. Therefore, the fuel cell mi-
GENERATION EFFICIENCY DUE crogrid (FC microgrid) is divided into multiple
TO PARTITION COOPERATION grids, and this Section considers the independent
MANAGEMENT OF A FUEL management of each grid. Two or more divided
CELL MICROGRID grids can operate in cooperation with other grids
to improve generation efficiency. In this Section,
Introduction partition cooperation management of the FC mi-
crogrid and its relationship to generation efficiency
A reduction effective of greenhouse-gas emission are investigated using the power demand pattern
is expected with the microgrid (Robert et al., 2004; assuming typical buildings in Tokyo. In addition
Carlos & Hernandez, 2005; Takuma & Goda, to this, the FC microgrid that is equipped with
2005). In particular, the microgrid using a fuel the cooperation operation of the partition grid is
cell is predicted to be a leading method of future effective at Response to overload at the time of
energy supply. In order to effectively reduce green- load fluctuation, Risk abatement at the time of
house gases to a maximum, a microgrid should be accident due to distribution of power facilities
maintained and operated at the highest possible and Interruption of service not caused at the time
generation efficiency. It is necessary to optimize of maintenance.
73
System Configuration pattern of a grid flexibly. On the other hand, it is

necessary to supply the entire power demand in a
Scheme of FC Microgrid grid using an independent microgrid. Therefore,
the design of an independent microgrid needs to
There is an interconnection system (Figure 1 sufficiently consider power demand and supply
(a)) and an independent system (Figure 1 (b)) balance. The connection of a new building is
in a microgrid. By increased power demand due difficult for this grid type, and flexibility is poor.
to connection of a new building and large load However, the independent microgrid is effective
fluctuations, when the grid cannot respond, an as a method of supplying electric power in areas
interconnection microgrid connects to other grids. where the transmission line infrastructure is not
( of Figure 1 (a) is a system-interconnection fixed. Therefore, in this Section, as shown in Figure
device.) Therefore, an interconnection microgrid 1 (c), one independent microgrid is divided into
is a system that can respond to the power demand multiple grids (in Figure 1 (c), these are Grid A
Figure 1. Microgrid model
74
and Grid B). Usually, although each grid oper- 2 (a)) connected to one independent grid (Grid
ates independently, if it is in the condition where A and Grid B, respectively) may be at one place.
generation efficiency is improved, each grid will Buildings other than the power plant are buildings
be connected and it will perform cooperation (Figure 2 (b)) in which a boiler is installed for heat
operation. If the method of Figure 1 (c) is used, supply, and a system-interconnection device. An
the independent microgrid will be improved by actual FC microgrid requires a town gas distribu-
the system that can respond flexibly to increases tion network and exhaust heat distribution network
and decreases in a building, or increases and de- other than an electric power supply network. This
creases in load fluctuation. Therefore, in this study, Section does not describe the management of a
the relationship between the building (route of a town gas distribution network or an exhaust heat
microgrid) connected to each of the divided grids distribution network.
(in the case of Figure 1 (c), these are Grid A and
Grid B) and generation efficiency is investigated. Operating Method
System Configuration In the following, the operating method of the FC

microgrid system shown in Figures 1 (c) and 2 is
The buildings in which power plants are installed described. In Figure 2 (a), town gas is supplied to
(Figure 2 (a)) and other buildings (Figure 2 (b)) a heat-source burner and a reformer, steam reform-
are connected to each of Grid A and Grid B of ing of town gas is performed and reformed gas with
Figure 1 (c). A town gas reformer, PEFC, a boiler, many hydrogen components is produced. Because
a heat storage tank, and a system-interconnection there is a lot of water in reformed gas, the water
device are installed in the building of Figure 2 is removed with a dryer. Furthermore, the carbon
(a). The boiler for heat supply and the system- monoxide in the reformed gas is removed with a
interconnection device for receiving electric power carbon monoxide oxidation system. Reformed gas
from a grid are installed in the building of Figure is supplied to the fuel cell, and power and exhaust
2 (b). Figure 2 (a) shows the model of a building heat are output from the fuel cell. After storing
in which a power plant is installed as shown in exhaust heat in a heat storage tank and exchang-
Figure 1 (c). In this Section, a power plant (Figure ing the heat of a thermal storage medium for tap
Figure 2. Energy equipment model installed in a building
75
water, tap water is supplied to an auxiliary boiler, (Ibaraki Prefecture Government Office of Educa-
which is output to the demand side. The power tion, 2002). WH is the calorific value of the hy-
produced with the fuel cell is supplied to a grid drogen included in reformed gas, and WB and
through a DC-AC converter, an inverter, and a
WR are the calorific values of town gas at a flow
system-interconnection device. A fuel cell is oper-
ated so that the power load may be followed. The rate of QBN ,t and QRM ,t , respectively. It depends
1
output control of a fuel cell adjusts and controls for the power generation efficiency of a microgrid
the amount of town gas supplied to a reformer. on the fuel cell output characteristics of Figure 3
Figure 2 (b) shows the equipment model of build- (a). For example, the output characteristics of a
ings other than the power plant shown in Figure fuel cell change with the operating method of a
1 (c). In these buildings, power is obtained from reformer. It needs to be careful of the character-
a grid through a system-interconnection device. istic of Figure 3 (a) not being the result of repre-
Heat is produced with a town gas fired boiler. senting a fuel cell system.
Grid A and Grid B, shown in Figure 1 (c),
usually supply power to buildings independently WH
by each grid. However, when a load that exceeds RM = 100 (1)
capacity is added to one of the grids, power can
(W B
+WR )
be obtained from the other grids through the

system-interconnection device. In the partition Figure 3 (b) shows the model indicating the
cooperation management of the FC microgrid relation between the load pattern of a power de-
described in the following, all the grids can demand model, and the generation efficiency of a
liver and receive other grids and power through fuel cell. As Figure 3 (a) shows, the generation
the system-interconnection device. efficiency of a fuel cell changes with the load
ratio. Next, the operation method of a fuel cell
Installation Planning of FC Microgrid when there are two or more power demand mod-
els is described.
Generation Efficiency of Microgrid In Figure 3 (c), each power demand model of
Building A, B, and C is shown. The following
Figure 3 (a) shows the cell performance curve for three methods of supplying power to these build-
an operating temperature of 333 K, with the gas ings from PEFC can be considered.
pressure at the anode and cathode being 0.1 MPa
(Takeda, Y., et al., 2004; Ibe, S., et al., 2002; 1. Installing a fuel cell in all the buildings
Mikkola, M., 2001; Ibaraki Prefecture Government (stand-alone system)
Office of Education, 2002). This characteristic is 2. Connecting all the buildings to a microgrid,
the model to be used when setting the reformer and supplying power using one set of FC
efficiency to be constant at 73%. Details of RM (central system)
are given below. Although steam reforming of 3. Setting two or more microgrids considering
town gas at a flow rate of QRM ,t is conducted and the power demand pattern of the buildings
(partition cooperation system)
reformed gas is produced in the reformer, the heat
source for the reforming reaction is burned and
The stand-alone system determines the ca-
obtained using the town gas at a flow rate of QB ,t . pacity of PEFC installed in each house so that it
The following equation defines the reformer ef- may exceed the maximum of each power load of
ficiency, and the maximum of this value is 73% Building A, B and C of Figure 3 (c). In the central
76
Figure 3. Eficiency of PEFC and power demand pattern
77
system, the power load of Building A, B and C of Power Demand Model

Figure 3 (c) is added for every sampling time, and
the capacity of one set of PEFC is determined to Figure 4 shows the power demand models of each
exceed the maximum. In addition, in the partition building, and is the mean power load of each
cooperation system, Building A and Building B of sampling time on a representative day in January
Figure 3 (c) are connected, for example, and Grid (winter), May (mid-term), and August (summer)
1 operates. Building C is operated independently (Architectural Institute of Japan, 2002; Nagase
(Grid 2). The capacity of PEFC installed in Grid et al., 2003; Hatano et al., 2003; Yoshinaga et
1 and Grid 2 is decided so that it may exceed al., 2003). However, the actual power demand
the maximum of the power load of Building A pattern is a mixture of loads that change rapidly
and Building B, and the maximum of the power over a short time, such as an inrush current. In
load of Building C. The stand-alone system does addition, a power demand estimate for the house
not need a grid and, moreover, does not need to actually shown in Figure 4 (a) is difficult, and
transport exhaust heat to a neighboring build- a power demand estimate for the small offices
ing. Therefore, the heat loss of exhaust heat is and factories indicated in Figures 4 (d) and (e)
small, and installation of a grid is unnecessary. is comparatively easy. Although load fluctua-
However, there are many fuel cells to install, and tion is not taken into consideration in the power
it is necessary to install large-capacity fuel cells demand model in the analysis of this Section,
so that load fluctuation does not have an impact. when accompanied by load fluctuations, system
Unlike the stand-alone system, the central system interconnection between the grids is expected to
should just install FC in one building. Therefore, occur frequently. The power demand pattern of
although it is advantageous in respect of equipment a house (Figure 4 (a)) has a peak in the morning
cost, the transport distance for the exhaust heat and the afternoon. In the hotel of Figure 4 (b),
is long, and heat loss is a problem. Furthermore, demand is stabilized when the midnight-to-early-
the diversification of risks at the time of accident morning period is excluded, and power demand is
and the extendibility of equipment are problems. stable for 24 hours at convenience stores (Figure
In the central system, the power demands of the 4 (c)). The difference between the time zone with
buildings are added, and the capacity of the fuel small power demand from night to early morn-
cell is optimized and determined to exceed the ing and the time zone with great power demand
maximum. Therefore, if the number of the build- from morning to evening is clear in small offices
ings connected to the grid and the pattern of the (Figure 4 (d)), factories (Figure 4 (e)), and small
power demand model change, the load ratio will hospitals (Figure 4 (f)).
change and generation efficiency will vary. On
the other hand, the partition cooperation system Analysis Method
can partially obtain each merit of the stand-alone
system and the central system. Partition of the The analysis flow of the generation efficiency of
microgrid in the partition cooperation system is the FC microgrid is shown in Figure 5 (a). First,
optimized to maximize generation efficiency. For a power demand model of the buildings that
this reason, depending on the composition of the compose the urban area model is prepared. In the
power demand model of the buildings in an urban analysis, the power demand model shown in Figure
area made into an analytical object, generation 4 is used. Although these power demand models
efficiency higher than that with the stand-alone are inputted into a program for every sampling
system or the central system may be applicable. time, the input is related to all the buildings. Next,
78
Figure 4. Power demand models
all the routes (that is, a divided grid) of the grid this load ratio to the approximation described in
are discovered. This route planning is obtained Figure 3 (a). Furthermore, the capacity of the fuel
by calculating the permutation of the number of cell installed in each route of the FC microgrid is
buildings. The capacity of the fuel cell installed changed, and the generation efficiency of a route
in each route of the FC microgrid is set up, and is calculated using the same procedure. From the
the power load and the load ratio of each route are generation efficiency of all the routes obtained
calculated for every sampling time. The genera- by calculation, the generation efficiency (average
tion efficiency of a route is calculated by giving generation efficiency) in the entire FC microgrid
79
Figure 5. Analysis flow, power demand model, and average generation efficiency
for a representative day can be calculated. The Case Study

average generation efficiency of the stand-alone
system, the central system, and the partition co- Figure 5 (b) shows the urban area model used for
operation system is calculable using the analysis this analysis, and shows the type of power demand
procedure described above. model of 23 buildings in this figure. In addition,
80
the number given in this figure is the number of alone system in the urban area model of Figure 5
buildings, and shows the area and the maximum (b). Although the average generation efficiency
load of each building assumed in Table 1. Figure differs each month, convenience stores with a small
5 (b) shows a two-person family house and a load fluctuation range of power throughout the
six-person family house as well as a four-person year show about 30% at maximum. The average
family house (the power demand model is shown in generation efficiency of a representative day in
Figure 4 (a)). Each power demand model compares August with high power consumption due to air-
and determines the number-of-persons rate of the conditioners is high in hotels and hospitals. The
model of Figure 4 (a). Moreover, although apart- average generation efficiency of other buildings
ment houses are shown in Figure 5 (b), these power is less than 20%.
demand models are also relatively determined The system that distributes the PEFC system
from the number-of-persons rate of the model of whose generation capacity is 1 kW or 2 kW to the
Figure 4 (a). In this analysis, Figure 5 (b) is used urban area model of Figure 5 (b) is investigated.
as an urban area model. Moreover, Figure 4 (a) To install PEFC (1 kW or 2 kW) using the stand-
to (f) is used as a power demand model of each alone system, it is necessary to look for buildings
building that composes an urban area. The rela- that can install fuel cells of this capacity from
tion of the load ratio and generation efficiency of among buildings that compose an urban area
PEFC installed in the model is shown in Figure model. Figure 6 (a) shows the analysis results of
3 (a). Since the maximum generation efficiency the number of buildings in which a fuel cell of
of the model of Figure 7 is 32%, the maximum each capacity can be installed using the stand-alone
generation efficiency of the microgrid analyzed system, and the number of the fuel cells installing
here is theoretically 32%. PEFC using the partition cooperation system. If
equipment cost is taken into consideration from
Analysis Results and Discussions the difference in the installed number of PEFC,
compared with the stand-alone system, the parti-
Generation Efficiency of tion cooperation system is more advantageous.
Stand-Alone System
Generation Efficiency of Central
Figure 5 (c) shows the analysis results of the aver- System
age generation efficiency of a representative day
of every month in the case of installing the stand- Figure 6 (b) shows the analysis result of the
relationship between the capacity of PEFC and
generation efficiency in the case of installing
Table 1. Maximum power load of each buildings the central system in the urban area model. The
results of the generation capacity of PEFC us-
ing the central system is 110 kW (the average
generation efficiency of each representative day
is 25.8% and 26.1%, respectively) on representa-
tive days in January and May, and is 160 kW (the
average generation efficiency of a representative
day is 24.8%) on a representative days in August.
Therefore, it is required that a 160-kW PEFC be
81
Figure 6. Calculation results of the installed number and power generation efficiency
installed in the central system in the urban area Generation Efficiency of Partition
model, and be applied throughout the year. When Cooperation System
a 160-kW PEFC is installed, the average genera-
tion efficiency of representative days in January Operation of FC microgrid in which is installed
and May is 20.6% to 20.9%. Consequently, the PEFC with low generation capacity
generation efficiency of an FC microgrid when Figures 7 (a) to (c) show the analysis results
installing the central system is operated at 20.6 of the partition cooperation system in which is
to 24.8%. installed PEFC whose generation capacity is 2 kW.
82
Figure 7. Analysis results of the partition cooperation microgrid system at the time of installing 2 kW PEFC
However, because two or more buildings that have other months. Then, the analysis result of the grid
the same power demand model are included as route of a representative day in August was given
Figure 5 (b) describes, when these are exchanged, to the power demand model of a representative
it is expressed by the route difference from Figure day in January, and the generation efficiency was
7 (a) to (c). The average generation efficiency of analyzed. This result is shown in Figure 8. In the
representative days in January, May, and August results of Figure 8, the generation efficiency of a
is 23%, 22.7%, and 20.4%, respectively. Because representative day in January is low at 2.5% com-
the space-cooling load of air-conditioners will pared to the generation efficiency of the whole grid
be included in the power demand amount of a on a representative day in August, being 19.9%.
representative day in August, the load ratio is Therefore, when PEFC whose capacity is 2 kW
high compared with other months. Therefore, is installed in Figure 5 (b), the power is supplied
the average generation efficiency of a represen- to the 11 buildings by the four grids (that is, four
tative day in August is high. Because the power fuel cells) of Grid A to Grid D, and the generation
demand is high on a representative day in August efficiency is about 20% throughout the year. As
compared with other months, these analysis re- Figure 5 (c) describes, the generation efficiency
sults (the route of a grid, and the capacity of the in the case of supplying power to a house (two-
fuel cells installed in the grids) can be applied to to six-person household) using the stand-alone
83
Figure 8. Analysis result in January when the same as analysis results of the grid in August. 2 kW PEFC
is installed in each grid. Average generation efficiency is 19.9%.
system is about 20% at maximum. Moreover, (c)) to the power demand model of a representa-
compared with the number of PEFC installed by tive day in January. Compared with Figure 9 (c),
the stand-alone system from the results of Figure the result of the generation efficiency of Figure
6 (a), the number of installations in the partition 10 falls due to each Grid A to Grid C, and the
cooperation system is about 1/3 with a generation average generation efficiency of the whole grid
capacity of 2 kW. Compared with the stand-alone falls by 23.6% to 21.1%. Therefore, as for the FC
system, the whole generation efficiency of the microgrid whose average generation efficiency
microgrid in which is installed PEFC with small in total comprises a combination of the highest
generation capacity is improved, and equipment grids, generation efficiency is operated at 21.1 to
cost is reduced. However, a maximum power 27.6%. The range of this value exceeds the aver-
demand greatly over 2 kW cannot be installed in age generation efficiency (from 20.6% to 24.8%)
this grid in buildings. when installing a 160-kW PEFC using the central
Operation of FC microgrid combined so that system shown in Figure 6 (b). Operation of a FC
the generation efficiency of the whole grid is microgrid that combines the grid in which average
maximized. generation efficiency exceeds 25%.
Figures 9 (a) to (c) show each representative Figures 11 (a) to (c) show the result of the
day in the grid route obtained in the analysis, and combination for which the generation efficiency
show the analysis results at the time of combin- of a representative day is a grid route exceeding
ing so that the generation efficiency of the whole 25%, and the generation efficiency of the whole
grid is maximized. However, because two or more grid peaks every month. The grid route for which
buildings that have the same power demand model generation efficiency does not exceed 25% does
in an urban area model are included as Figure 5 not appear in Figures 11 (a) to (c). Consequently,
(b) describes, if these are exchanged, the com- there is no guarantee that all the buildings in an
bination will become different from Figures 9 urban area model can be connected to any grid.
(a) to (c). Figure 10 shows the analysis result of Figure 12 shows the analysis result of the gen-
the generation efficiency when giving the route eration efficiency when installing the power de-
result of a representative day in August (Figure 9 mand model of a representative day in January
84
Figure 9. Analysis results of the partition cooperation microgrid system which supplies the power to all
the buildings
Figure 10. Analysis result in January when the

into the analysis result (Figure 11 (c)) of the grid
same as analysis results of the grid in August.
route of a representative day in August. Compared
Average generation efficiency is 21.1%.
with Figure 11 (c), the generation efficiency of
Figure 12 falls compared to the other grids (Grid
A and Grid B), and the average generation effi-
ciency of the whole grid falls by 19%, being 23.2%.
Therefore, as for the FC microgrid whose gen-
eration efficiency is composed from grids exceed-
ing 25%, generation efficiency is operated at 23.2
to 28.6%. If this system is installed, the FC mi-
crogrid can be operated at the highest generation
efficiency, but buildings that lower the generation
efficiency of the whole grid are separated from
this grid.
85
Figure 11. Analysis results of the partition cooperation microgrid system when supplies the power to
the building of 25% or more of par generation efficiency
Figure 12. Analysis result in January when the

Conclusions
same as analysis results of the grid in August.
Average generation efficiency is 23.2%.
Even if an FC microgrid is used for urban areas
composed of buildings with various power demand
patterns and supplies power to them, generation
efficiency generally lowers. Therefore, this Sec-
tion examined the generation efficiency of the
following three power supply methods: (1) Install-
ing fuel cells in all the buildings in an urban area
model (stand-alone system); (2) Connecting all
the buildings to a microgrid, and supplying power
from one set of fuel cells (central system); and (3)
Dividing a microgrid into multiple grids consid-
86
ering the power demand pattern of the buildings cell (PEFC) has an expensive electrode material
(partition cooperation system). The relationship (catalyst material and solid polymer membrane).
between the capacity of the fuel cell to be installed Furthermore, since the system is complex, it is
and generation efficiency became clear from the difficult to commercialize it immediately. Then,
analysis results. Furthermore, in this Section, reducing the number of installations of the expen-
generation efficiency is optimized to maximize sive fuel cell by connecting PEFC to a microgrid in
generation efficiency to the grid route planning this chapter, and supplying power to two or more
of the partition cooperation system. As a result, a buildings, is considered. However, the subject of
system with higher generation efficiency than the this system is the frequent partial-load operation
stand-alone system and the central system could with low efficiency, when power is supplied to
be proposed. The average generation efficiency two or more buildings using a large-capacity fuel
of the stand-alone system is 20% or less, and cell (FC). As technology to solve this issue, a fuel
the average generation efficiency of the central cell is divided into small-capacity units, and there
system is 20.6% to 24.8%. On the other hand, the is the method of increasing the load factor of each
generation efficiency of the partition cooperation unit (Obara & Kudo, 2005). However, by this
system proposed in this Section is 21.1% to 27.6%. method, the number of fuel cell units increases
greatly, and facility cost increases. Consequently,
the base load of a microgrid is supplied using a
EQUIPMENT PLAN OF COMPOUND diesel engine power generator (DEG), and how to
INTERCONNECTION MICROGRID install and interconnect two or more PEFC grids is
COMPOSED FROM DIESEL POWER examined. The compound grid of DEG and PEFC
PLANTS AND PROTON-EXCHANGE is interconnected in this chapter. This microgrid
MEMBRANE FUEL CELL is described as CIM (Compound Interconnection
Microgrid). There are an interconnect system and
Introduction an independent system in CIM. The interconnect
system is connected with other grids, such as
The installation to an urban area of the fuel cell commercial power, and is operated. Although
microgrid is the technology of spreading the utili- realization of an independent system is predicted
zation of hydrogen energy. For example, hydrogen to be difficult compared with the interconnect
production using green energy and reforming system, it is considered that the effect of (b) and
technology of natural gas can be introduced. (c) described above will be large. So, this chap-
Generally, as for introduction to a city area of a ter examines the independent microgrid system
microgrid, the following points are expected: (a) built by two or more FC grids in which system
The distance for the heat supply is short and ef- interconnection is possible.
fective use of exhaust heat is possible (Obara & There are many cases of installing DEG as
Kudo, 2006; Obara, 2006); (b) Load leveling of cogeneration until now, and the characteristics,
existing large-sized power generation equipment such as power generation efficiency, facility cost,
is possible; and (c) Since a facility suitable for the and power cost due to a number of achievements
energy demand characteristics of a community can can be estimated. Although it is expected that the
be installed, it is a technology in which energy microgrid using DEG has high realizability, it is
efficiency is high and the environmental impact accompanied by the problem of carbon dioxide
is low, is expected (Robert et al. 2004; Carlos discharge. Consequently, DEG is introduced as
& Hernandez, 2005, Takuma & Goda, 2005). generating equipment corresponding to the base
However, a proton-exchange membrane fuel load of the whole CIM, and operation near the
87
maximum efficiency point is examined. On the the grids is effective when supplying power from
other hand, the dynamic characteristics at the time another system for accident, maintenance, etc.,
of load fluctuation and carbon dioxide emissions and when there is large load exceeding a certain
of PEFC are good compared with DEG (Obara, grid capacity.
S., 2006). PEFC linked to CIM is controlled to
operate corresponding to the load fluctuation CIM Model
of the grid. However, the load factor of PEFC
changes with the power-demand patterns of each Figure 13 (c) shows the model of the FC grid and
building linked to CIM in this system. As a result, an interconnection device shown by Figure 13 (a)
the power generation efficiency of the whole and (b). In CIM, DEG of with a capacity of PDEG
microgrid may improve by dividing a microgrid is installed and PEFC with a capacity from PFC ,A
into two or more, and determining the buildings
to PFC ,G is installed from FC Grids A to G, re-
connected to each grid (grid route) with the object
of maximizing the power generation efficiency. spectively. Each grid can change over and inter-
In this chapter, an independent microgrid with connect the system interconnection device of CP1
high power generation efficiency is planned by to CP7. DEG is operated corresponding to the base
optimizing the capacity of DEG and PEFC, and load of the city area model shown in Figure 13
selecting the grid routes. (a). DEG is operated by constant load. Concern-
ing load fluctuation, power is supplied from FC
Compound Interconnect Microgrid Grids A to G. As shown in Figure 8 (c), all FC
Grids A to G are connectable with DEG.
Microgrid Model
Facility Scheme
This section examines two or more FC grids and
the independent microgrid built by DEG operated Figure 14 (a) to (c) is a facility scheme installed
according to a base load. However, in this section, in the building linked to CIM shown in Figure
only the power system is investigated, and the 13. Figure 14 (a) shows the facility scheme of
exhaust heat of the generating equipment is not a building of installing DEG, and Figure 14 (b)
investigated. Figure 13 shows the CIM model that shows the facility scheme of a building of installing
introduced seven FC grids into 61 buildings. DEG PEFC. A building in which is installed the facility
is installed in the buildings of any grid and outputs of DEG shown in Figure 14 (a) is connected to
constant power corresponding to the base load of any one grid, and a building in which is installed
all the FC grids. The power-demand patterns of the facility shown in Figure 14 (b) is connected to
each building in a city area differ. Therefore, the all the FC grids. Figure 14 (c) shows the facility
power load pattern of each FC grid changes with scheme of a building in which DEG or PEFC is
the route of the building linked to the grid. Con- not installed. Generating equipment composed
sequently, as shown in Figure 13 (a), the building from a diesel engine, a power generator, a boiler,
linked to each FC grid is selected and arranged a heat storage tank, a system interconnection de-
with the object of maximizing power generation vice, etc. is installed in Figure 14 (a). Moreover,
efficiency. Figure 13 (b) shows the model of the the generating equipment composed from a town
FC grid (FC grid A to G) in Figure 13 (a), and gas reformer, PEFC, a boiler, a heat storage tank,
power supply-and-demand is possible for each a system interconnection device, etc. is installed
grid through a system interconnection device in Figure 14 (b). In a reformer, reformed gas is
(CP1 to CP7). The system interconnection between produced on a catalyst by making the combustion
88
Figure 13. CIM (Compound Interconnection Microgrid) model
89
gas of town gas into a heat source. Since there exhaust gas heating value, and the production
is a lot of water in reformed gas generated by of electricity. The engine specifications of the
steam reforming, reformed gas is cooled by the cogeneration system of Figure 15 (a) are shown
air supply of a blower with a dryer, and the water in Table 2 (a). Moreover, the specifications of a
is condensed and is separated. In order for the synchronous power generator are shown in Table
carbon monoxide concentration in the reformed 2 (b). The fuel of a diesel engine is kerosene and
gas in a fuel cell stack entrance to be several ppm, uses 2 cylinders and 4 cycles. A power generator
the carbon monoxide oxidization part is prepared. is a single-phase synchronous type, and power is
In the carbon monoxide oxidization part, carbon transmitted through a belt from the power shaft
monoxide is burned on a catalyst and it changes of the diesel engine. If the amount of kerosene
into carbon dioxide. Reformed gas is supplied fuel is increased, the production of electricity
to a fuel cell stack from the carbon monoxide and exhaust gas heating value increases, but the
oxidization part, and it generates electricity. The engine-cooling water heating value decreases.
generated DC power is changed into an alternating The maximum power generation output is 3 kW,
current of constant frequency through an inverter, and the kerosene supply heating value at this time
and is supplied to a system interconnection device. is 9.8 kW. Figure 15 (b) shows the production
Moreover, the boiler for heat supply and the system of electricity of DEG and the relation of power
interconnection device for obtaining power from generation efficiency that were obtained by the ex-
a grid are installed in Figure 14 (c). amination. Although power generation efficiency
changes with the number of engine rotations, since
CIM Operating Method this difference is small, the approximated curve
shown in Figure 15 (b) is used in the analysis of
The model of the operating method of CIM is this research. Moreover, the relation between the
shown in Figure 14 (d). The power load of a load factor and power generation efficiency shown
representative day is divided into the base load in Figure 15 (b) should be maintained even if the
of the constant load, and other loads as shown in capacity of DEG changes.
the figure. In operating and generating DEG at
about the base load, other loads correspond by Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell
the power generation of FC. Although DEG is
one set, the FC grid consists of two or more sets. The output characteristics of the fuel cell stack
Since the FC grid corresponds to load fluctuation, used in the analysis of this chapter are shown in
it may operate at partial load with low efficiency, Figure 15 (c). The maximum power generation
but DEG can be operated by the constant load of efficiency of PEFC shown in Figure 15 (c) is 32%.
the maximum efficiency point. The supply of town gas has a system of changing it
into reformed gas, and a system of supplying it to
Equipment Characteristics the burner used as a heat source of the reforming
reaction. Power generation efficiency is calculated
Diesel Engine Power Generator by dividing the production of electricity of PEFC
by the calorific power adding these two town gas
The output characteristics result of the cogenera- systems (Takeda et al., 2004; Ibe et al., 2002;
tion system using DEG is shown in Figure 15 Mikkola, 2001; Ibaraki Prefecture Government
(a). This result is the relation among the calorific Office of Education, 2002). The electrode area
heat of the kerosene fuel supplied to DEG, the of an anode and cathode of the examined PEFC
engine-cooling-water heating value and the engine is 1.0 m2, respectively. Moreover, the cost, calcu-
90
Figure 14. Equipment model installed in a building and an operation plan
91
Figure 15. Power generator model
92
Table 2. Specifications of equipment

efficiency total ,Day of a representative day, and is
obtained using Equation (2). In the analysis of this
chapter, the route of the FC grid and the generation
capacity of DEG and FC in case WDay is the
maximum and has been decided to be an optimal
solution.
NR
E DEG ,t DEG ,t + (E FC ,n ,t FC ,n ,t )
total ,t = n =1

Etotal ,t
(2)
23
WDay = total ,Day = (total ,t ) (3)
t =0
When there is the same pattern among the

power-demand patterns of each building intro-
duced into a city area model, two or more grid
routes considered to be optimal appear.
Analysis Flow
lated by dividing the calorific power of hydrogen
in the reformed gas by the calorific power of the The analysis flow that searches for the optimal
two town gas systems described above is defined solution of CIM is shown in Figure 16. First, the
as reformer efficiency. power-demand data of each building that com-
poses a city area model is given to the analysis
Analysis Method program. Next, the base load of a microgrid is
calculated from the power demand data, and the
Route Plan of Compound capacity of DEG is decided. Regarding all the FC
Interconnect Grid grid routes, the power generation efficiency for
every sampling time is calculated. However, the
Equation (2) is an expression of total power gen- FC grid route is given to a program widely as-
eration efficiency total ,t in sampling-time t , and suming the number of grids and the capacity of
PEFC installed in each grid, and calculates the
calculates for all the grid routes that compose CIM.
power generation efficiency for all the FC grid
total ,t is calculated from power generation effi-
routes. By adding and equalizing these results,
ciency DEG ,t and load E DEG ,t of DEG, and the average generation efficiency on a representa-
power generation efficiency FC ,n ,t of the FC grid tive day is obtained. The power generation effi-
ciency of DEG and PEFC is used to calculate the
of route n (n = 1, 2,..., N R ) and load E FC ,n ,t . load ratio from the power demand of all the build-
Equation (3) is the objective function. Objective ings connected to a grid and the capacity of DEG
function WDay is equal to total power generation and PEFC that were set up beforehand, and these
93
Figure 16. Calculation flow of generation ef-

May (mid-term), and August (summer) (Archi-
ficiency for FC microgrid
tectural Institute of Japan, 2002, Nagase, O. et
al., 2003, Hatano, Y. et al., 2003). However, the
actual power demand pattern is a meeting of the
load that changes rapidly in a short time, such
as an inrush current. In Tokyo, the annual aver-
age temperature for the past five years is 289 K.
The average temperature in January is 279 K,
and the highest and the lowest temperatures on
a representative day in January are 283 K and
275 K, respectively. The average temperature
in May is 292 K, and the highest and the lowest
temperatures on a representative day in May are
296 K and 288 K, respectively. The highest and
the lowest temperatures on a representative day
in August for the past five years are 302 K and
296 K, respectively, and the average temperature
is 298 K (National Astronomical Observatory,
2003). There is a high power demand on a rep-
resentative day in August compared with other
months including the space-cooling load. The
power demand estimate of the family household
shown in from (a) to (d) of Figure 17 is difficult,
and the power demand estimate of the small of-
fices and factories indicated in Figures 17 (g) and
are calculated by inserting them into Figures 15 (h) is regular, and comparatively easy. Although
(b) and (c). The power generation efficiency of load fluctuation in a short time is not taken into
DEG and each route of FC grid is given to Equa- consideration for the power demand model in
tion (2), and the route of FC grid in case WDay the analysis of this chapter, when accompanied
by load fluctuation, it is necessary to investigate
of Equation (3) is the largest value, and the capac-
the dynamic characteristics of the grid. The power
ity of DEG and PEFC are decided to be the opti-
demand pattern of a family household (from (a)
mal solutions.
to (d) of Figure 17) shows a peak in the morning
and the afternoon. The demand of hotels (Figure
Power Demand Model
17 (e)) stabilized when midnight to early morn-
ing was excluded, and there is continuous power
Figure 17 shows the power demand model of
demand at convenience stores (Figure 17 (f))
each building in Tokyo used in the analysis, and
with business for 24 hours. The difference in the
is the mean power load of each sampling time
time zone of night to early morning with little
of the representative day in January (winter),
power demand and the time zone from morning
94
Figure 17. Power demand model
to evening with high power demand is clear in case of Table 3 (a) and (b). Case A is a model
offices (Figure 17 (g)), factories (Figure 17 (h)), (complex community) assuming an urban area
and hospitals (Figure 17(i)). that consists of various buildings, and Case B is
a model (residential area) assuming a residential
Case Study street. In addition, each power demand pattern
uses Figure 17. For example, building numbers
Urban Area Model 1 and 2 are family households (two persons), and
each power demand model used for analysis is
Figure 18 shows the urban area model used for shown in Figure 17 (b). Therefore, the grid route
analysis. The number shown in the figure is the of building numbers 1 and 2 is exchangeable.
building number, and also shows the type of each The power demand model of Figure 17 and the
building. The urban area model is composed urban area model of Figure 18 are installed into
from 20 buildings, and Table 3 shows the type the analysis program described in Figure 16,
of each building. The analysis investigates each and the efficiency of the CIM system is verified
95
Figure 18. Urban area model
Table 3. Energy demand for urban model

Complex Community
1. Grid Route and Generation Capacity of

FC and DEG
Figure 19 (a) shows the rate of the power demand
of a representative day in May in the urban area
model of Case A of Table 3(a). A representative
day shows the greatest power demand for conve-
nience stores (two buildings), followed by hotels,
factories, and small hospitals, in that order. As
Figure 17 describes, the difference in the power
demand for day and night is comparatively small at
convenience stores, hotels, and small hospitals and
it is large for small offices and factories. There is
in analysis. However, in the analysis, the power a difference between family households and apart-
demand model of a representative day in May of ments in the amount demanded from midnight to
Figure 17 is used. The analysis using the power early morning, and daytime. In order to maintain
demand model of the representative days of other the high power generation efficiency of the whole
months is the same as that of the example of a microgrid, it is necessary to plan the path of the
representative day in May, and other months are FC grid containing convenience stores, hotels,
not analyzed in this chapter. factories, small hospitals, etc. with a large power
96
Figure 19. Analysis results in Case A demand. The grid route shown in Figure 19 (b) was
obtained from the result of analyzing the power
generation efficiency of each grid route. Figure
19 (b) consists of three FC grids: Grid A, Grid
B, and Grid C. Figure 19 (c) shows the analysis
results of the generation capacity of FC installed in
each FC grid, and the generation capacity of DEG
corresponding to the base load. PEFC of 10 kW,
15 kW, and 47 kW is connected to each of Grid
A, Grid B, and Grid C, respectively. In addition,
57-kW DEG is installed and it corresponds to the
base load of the whole grid.
2. Result of Power Generation Efficiency

Figure 19 (d) shows the analysis result of the
electric energy to be outputted on a representative
day in May by each FC grid. In each grid, there
are base power supplied from DEG and power
corresponding to the load fluctuation supplied
from FC. The base load of each grid distributes
the power outputted by DEG. The output of DEG
is larger than FC, removing Grid B by the building
composition of Case A. In addition, the power
supply of a representative day has more DEG
than the sum total of each PEFC. Figure 19 (e)
shows the analysis results of the power generation
efficiency of FC of each FC grid, and the power
generation efficiency of the whole grid. Although
the power generation efficiency of Grid A, Grid B,
and Grid C is 19.2%, 17.4%, and 18.6%, respec-
tively, base-load operation is added due to DEG,
and the power generation efficiency of the whole
grid improves to 27.1%. Because there are two
or more buildings with the same power demand
model in the urban area model, the grid routes
shown in Figure 19 (b) differ, but there is a case
where Figure 19 (c), (d), and (e) show the same
results. Moreover, one set of DEG or one set of
PEFC is installed into the conditions of the urban
area model of Case A, and the analysis result of
the power generation efficiency of the system that
supplies the power demand of all the buildings
(central system) is shown in Table 4 (a). The power
generation efficiency of the DEG central system
97
Figure 20. Load distribution of the entire microgrid

and the FC central system is 22.4% and 26.2%,
respectively. Therefore, the CIM system of power
generation efficiency (27.1%) proposed in this
chapter is larger. The result of the load distribu-
tion of the whole microgrid of Case A is shown
in Figure 20 (a). In this figure, allocation of the
load of DEG and the load of the FC grid (Grid
A, Grid B, and Grid C) is shown. The magnitude
of the load during the time zone from midnight
to early morning and others differs greatly, and
the power generation efficiency of the FC grid
and the total efficiency of the microgrid (equal
to CIM efficiency) are influenced.
Residential Area
1. Grid Route and Generation Capacity of

FC and DEG
Figure 21 (a) shows the rate of the power demand
of a representative day in May in the urban area
model of Case B in Table 3(b). In Case B, family
households account for 18 buildings and conve-
nience stores account for two buildings. However,
the power demand rate of convenience stores is
84%, and the power demand rate of family house- power generation efficiency of each grid route.
holds is 16%. The grid route shown in Figure 21 Figure 21 (b) consists of two FC grids: Grid A
(b) was obtained from the analysis result of the and Grid B. Figure 21 (c) shows the analysis
result of the generation capacity of FC installed
in each FC grid, and the generation capacity of
Table 4. Result of power generation efficiency DEG corresponding to the base load. PEFC of 8
kW is connected to each of Grid A and Grid B,
and DEG of 33 kW is operated as a base load of
the whole grid.
2. Result of Power Generation Efficiency

Figure 21 (d) shows the analysis result of the
electric energy to be outputted on a representative
day in May by each FC grid. From the analysis
result of Figure 21 (d), with the composition of
the buildings of Case B, the output of DEG is
overwhelmingly larger than FC, and the power
supply of a representative day has more DEG
than the sum total of each PEFC. Figure 21 (e)
shows the analysis result of the power generation
98
Figure 21. Analysis results in Case B

efficiency of FC connected to each FC grid, and
the power generation efficiency of the whole
grid. Although the power generation efficiency
of Grid A and Grid B is 19.5% and 14.5%, re-
spectively, base-load operation is added due to
DEG, and the power generation efficiency of the
whole grid improves to 29.9%. In addition, one
set of DEG or one set of PEFC is installed into
the conditions of the urban area model of Case
B, and the analysis result of the power generation
efficiency of the system (central system) that
supplies the power demand of all the buildings
is shown in Table 4 (b). The power generation
efficiency of the DEG central system and the FC
central system is 23.2% and 29.1%, respectively.
Therefore, the CIM system (29.9%) of power
generation efficiency proposed in this chapter is
larger. The result of the load distribution of the
whole microgrid of Case B is shown in Figure
13 (b). There is little load distribution of the FC
grid compared with Case A, and the difference
in the load at each sampling time is small. This
is the reason that the power generation efficiency
(equal to the power generation efficiency of CIM)
of the whole microgrid is high.
Conclusions
CIM (Compound Interconnection Microgrid),

which divides the grid of an independent mi-
crogrid into multiple units and interconnects
between grids, was proposed. Although there
are many examples of introducing DEG (diesel
power plant generator) as cogeneration until now,
there is the problem of carbon dioxide emission.
Therefore, in this chapter, DEG was installed as
generating equipment corresponding to the base
load of whole CIM, and the method of operating
a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEFC) so
that it may correspond to the load fluctuation of
the grid was investigated by numerical analysis.
The generation capacity and the grid route of
DEG and PEFC in the case of maximum power
generation efficiency of the whole microgrid were
99
sought. From this analysis result, an independent Ibe, S., et al. (2002). Development of fuel proces-
microgrid with high power generation efficiency sor for residential fuel cell cogeneration system.
was planned. As a result, compared with the In K. Abe (Ed.), Proc. 21th Annual Meeting of
method of installing DEG or PEFC into a microgrid Japan Society of Energy and Resources, Osaka,
independently (central system), power generation (pp. 493-496). In Japanese National Astronomical
efficiency is confirmed to have improved. More- Observatory. (2003). Rika Nenpyo. Chronologi-
over, it has been verified that the power generation cal Scientific Tables CD-ROM. Japan: Maruzen
efficiency of a microgrid, the number of FC grids Co., Ltd.
introduced, and the capacity of DEG and PEFC
Mikkola, M. (2001). Experimental studies on
change with the types of building that composes
polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stacks
an urban area. In the complex community model
(Masters thesis). Helsinki University of Technol-
and the residential area model investigated in this
ogy, Finland. 58-79.
chapter, the power generation efficiency of the
whole microgrid (CIM) was 27.1% and 29.9%, Nagase, O., et al. (2003). Quantification of the
respectively. Although the microgrid that com- energy consumed in a house. In Proc. 19th Energy
bines DEG and PEFC is advantageous concerning System Economic and Environment Conference,
power generation efficiency and carbon dioxide (pp 461-466). In Japanese.
emission, studies including those on the increase
Obara, S. (2006a). The exhaust heat use plan when
in equipment cost are now required.
connecting solar modules to a fuel cell energy
network. Transactions of the ASME. Journal of
Energy Resources Technology, 129(1), 1828.
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101
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
n : Grid route
P : Generation capacity kW
QB ,t : Town gas quantity of flow for burner [kg/s]
QRM ,t : Town gas quantity of flow for steam reforming [kg/s]
t : Sampling time [Hour]
W : Objective function
WB : Town gas calorific valve supplied to a burner [kW]
WH : Calorific valve of the hydrogen included in reformed gas [kW]
WR : Town gas calorific valve supplied to a steam reforming [kW]
WP : Purifier water producing equipment
: Power generation efficiency [%]
RM : Reformer efficiency [%]
total : Total power generation efficiency [%]
Subscripts
Day : Representative day

DEG : Diesel engine generator
FC : Fuel cell
102
103
Chapter 4
Installation Plan of a Fuel
Cell Cogeneration System
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Installation Plan of a Fuel Cell Microgrid System Optimized by
Maximizing Power Generation Efficiency and Fuel Cell Network with Water Electrolysis for Improving
Partial Load Efficiency of a Residential Cogeneration System. A microgrid that use PEFC may signifi-
cantly reduce the environmental impact when compared with traditional power plants. The 1st section
investigates what occurs when a set of PEFCs and a natural gas reformer are connected to the microgrid
in an urban area. In the 2nd section, a fuel cell energy network which connects hydrogen and oxygen
gas pipes, electric power lines and exhaust heat output lines of the PEFC cogeneration for individual
houses is analyzed.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION plants. The amount of power supplied to the grid

divided by the heating value of the fuel is defined
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. If as the system generation efficiency. The authors
energy-supplying microgrids can be arranged to find that when a set of PEFCs and a natural gas
operate with maximal efficiency, this will have a reformer are connected to the microgrid in an
significant influence on the generation efficiency urban area, the annual generation efficiency of
of the grid and will reduce greenhouse gas produc- the system slightly exceeds 20%. When a PEFC
tion. A means of optimizing the microgrid needs follows the electricity demand pattern of a house, it
to be developed. Moreover, microgrids that use operates at a partial load most of the time, resulting
PEFC may significantly reduce the environmental in a low efficiency of the microgrid. A method of
impact when compared with traditional power improving the generation efficiency of a fuel cell
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch004
Installation Plan of a Fuel Cell Cogeneration System
microgrid is proposed, where a supply system of between the heat-supply and heat-demand sites is
power and heat with a high energy efficiency are small, making it possible for exhaust heat to be used
constructed. In this study, a method of installing in the process. (b) The systems can also be linked
two or more microgrids is proposed (known as with existing large-sized electric power facilities
the partition cooperation system). The grids can to perform load-leveling. A proton-exchange
be connected in an urban area to maximize gen- membrane fuel cell (PEFC) may extend as a power
eration efficiency. Numerical analysis shows that plant. These fuel cells have the advantage that they
the system proposed in this study (which has an are highly efficient and have little environmental
annual generation efficiency of 24.6 to 27.6%) has impact. However, the electrode material (espe-
a higher generation efficiency than conventional cially the catalyst material and the solid polymer
PEFC systems (central generating systems have membrane) of the PEFC is expensive, and its
annual generation efficiencies of 20.6 to 24.8%). system is complex. It may be possible to reduce
The summary of the 2nd section is as fol- the number of expensive fuel cells that need to be
lows. A fuel cell energy network which connects installed by connecting the PEFC to a microgrid
hydrogen and oxygen gas pipes, electric power and supplying power to two or more buildings.
lines and exhaust heat output lines of the fuel cell If the energy of the overall grid is supplied by
cogeneration for individual houses, respectively, one set of fuel cells (central system), the facility
is analyzed. As an analysis case, the energy de- costs will be reduced considerably. Past work has
mand patterns of individual houses in Tokyo are examined the method of supplying power to a
used, and the analysis method for minimization water electrolyzer and hydrogen and oxygen fuel
of the operational cost using a genetic algorithm storage methods (Obara & Kudo, 2005a). Another
is described. The fuel cell network system of an study looked at controlling the number of units
analysis example assumed connecting the fuel cell that divide a fuel cell and a reformer, finding that
co-generation of five houses. If energy is supplied the system efficiency falls when operated at partial
to the five houses using the fuel cell energy network load (Obara. & Kudo, 2005b). In addition, energy
proposed in this study, 9% of city gas consump- storage methods, such as batteries and flywheels,
tion will be reduced by the maximum from the have been considered, though this equipment is
results of analysis. 2% included to 9% is an effect not introduced in this chapter. Energy storage
of introducing water electrolysis operation of the methods must consider power fluctuations in the
fuel cells, corresponding to partial load operation microgrid affecting how the fuel cell is controlled.
of fuel cell co-generation. Although this is an important topic, for simplic-
ity, this chapter focuses on other issues related to
microgrids. There are no examples of the effect
INSTALLATION PLAN OF A FUEL of the power demand pattern of buildings linked
CELL MICROGRID SYSTEM to a microgrid on the generation efficiency of a
OPTIMIZED BY MAXIMIZING POWER fuel cell system. This chapter will examine how
GENERATION EFFICIENCY the overall generation efficiency is affected by
connecting a building to another grid. In this
Introduction chapter, the fuel cell microgrid (FC microgrid) is
installed in an urban area and divided into multiple
Microgrid systems used in urban areas have several grids. The system efficiency is improved over the
notable characteristics (Robert et al., 2004; Carlos case where each grid is connected independently
2005; Takuma & Goda, 2005). (a) The distance (partition cooperation system). By dividing the
104
grid and increasing the load factor of PEFC linked since it is inter-connected with other grids. On
to each grid, the proposed method improves the the other hand, the independent microgrid must
generation efficiency of the overall grid. supply power to all of the buildings linked to the
As a case study, this chapter investigates the grid. When supplying power using many inde-
generation efficiency of the FC microgrid using the pendent microgrids, it is necessary to deal with
power demand model assuming typical buildings the load-leveling problem. Correspondingly, the
in Tokyo (individual houses, apartments, hotels, maintenance needs for a long-distance power
convenience stores, small offices, factory, and network will be reduced. Moreover, if the energy
small hospitals). demand pattern of an urban area can be predicted,
the facility can be optimized, further reducing
System Configuration facility and maintenance costs for the microgrid.
Compared with constructing an independent
Interconnected and microgrid, implementing an interconnection
Independent Microgrids system is relatively easy. However, many un-
knowns remain in assessing the generation effi-
Figure 1 (a) shows the interconnected microgrid ciency of the independent microgrid. Therefore,
system. Figure 1 (b) shows the independent mi- this chapter characterizes the generation effi-
crogrid system. The system interconnection ciency of microgrids by investigating three elec-
method allows interconnections between grids tric power supply methods for the independent
using system interconnection equipment ( mark microgrid described below.
of Figure 1 (a)), such as a commercial power
system. Significant load fluctuations occur when Introduction to Fuel Cell Operation
the demand of the grid cannot be satisfied; in
these situations it is possible to supply power from A schematic diagram of the stand-alone system
other grids. Even when the number of buildings (Figure 2(a)), the central system (Figure 2 (b))
linked to the grid increases or decreases, the and the partition cooperation system (Figure 2
system interconnection method sees little effect (c)) for the independent microgrid are shown in
Figure 1. Microgrid model
105
Figure 2. Proposed independent microgrid
Figure 2. In the stand alone system, a separate fuel monoxide oxidization equipment, fuel cell, heat
cell is installed in each building. Since the power storage tank, and boiler, etc. are installed in all
demand pattern is different for each building, buildings. The power produced by the fuel cell
the fuel cell capacity is determined based on the system is consumed only by the building in which
predicted maximum value of the power demand it is installed.
pattern for the proposed building. The facility A schematic diagram of the central system is
scheme for the stand-alone system is shown in shown in Figure 2 (b). In this system, power is
Figure 3 (a). A natural gas reformer, dryer, carbon supplied to a single grid, which connects all the
106
Figure 3. Proposed system
buildings using a single set of fuel cells. In Figure The partition cooperation system uses central
2 (b), the facility shown in Figure 3 (b) is installed system shown in Figure 3 (b) in each grid. DPS,
in Building 7. The power that is produced, unlike distributed installation system of the partition
stand-alone system described above, can be sup- cooperation system, is one method. An alternative
plied to other buildings via a grid. Buildings model has the installation shown in Figure 3 (c) in
other than Building 7 install the facilities shown one building and the load distribution control in
in Figure 3 (d). In the facilities shown in Figure another building (CPS: concentrated installation
3 (d), power is received from a microgrid through method of the partition cooperation system). The
an interconnection device, and heat is supplied method for installing the fuel cells for the parti-
from a natural gas boiler. tion cooperation system shown in Figure 2 (c) is
In the partition cooperation system, as shown DPS (shown in Figure 2 (e)). The CPS system
in Figure 2 (c), power demand is divided into for the set up in Figure 2 (d) is shown in Figure 2
two or more independent grids (in the case of (f). In DPS, power generation equipment that is
Figure 2 (c), these are Grids A and B). Although identical to the central system is installed in each
installation of more fuel cells increases the parti- grid. On the other hand, for CPS the power for
tion cooperation system, the output point of each FC (1) and FC (2) is supplied to the building by
fuel cell can be chosen to optimize generation ef- Grids A and B, respectively, while the power for
ficiency (cooperative operation). The grid of the FC (1) and FC (2) is supplied to each building by
partition cooperation system selects a grid route the two grids shown in Figure 2 (c), or the central
in order to maximize the generation efficiency system of Figure 2 (d). The partition cooperation
of the overall microgrid. Given grid route and system includes features from both the system
fuel cell capacity may increase the load factor interconnection microgrid and the independent
of each grid, thus generation efficiency may be microgrid. As shown in Figure 2 (c), Grids A and B
higher than in the stand alone or central systems. can cooperate, but the overall grid is independent.
107
System Operating Method demand side. When the heat output of the heat
storage tank is less than the demanded amount,
Figures 3 (a) to (c) show schemes for the power the back-up boiler begins operation. When the
plant of a microgrid. In these power plants, natu- exhaust heat input exceeds the heat storage capac-
ral gas is supplied to the heat-source burner of a ity, heat is released using a radiator. The fuel cell
reformer so that steam reforming of natural gas of Figures 3 (a) through (c) control the amount
can be performed. The sulfur content of the Japa- of natural gas supplied to the reformer to track
nese natural gas supply is not included. Methane, the power load of the grid. Figure 3 (d) shows a
ethane, propane, and butane comprise 90%, 6%, model of buildings that do not have generating
3%, and 1% of the total gas, respectively. In the equipment for the central system or the partition
reformer, reformed gas with numerous hydrogen cooperation system installed in them. In these
constituents is produced. Since there is a lot of buildings power is obtained from the microgrid
water in the reformed gas of a reformer outlet, the via an interconnection device.
water is removed through a drying process. The
carbon monoxide in the reformed gas is removed Power Model of PEFC and the
using a carbon monoxide oxidation system. If Generation Efficiency of the Grid
reformed gas is supplied to a fuel cell, power and
exhaust heat will be outputed. The power produced Figure 4 (a) shows the PEFC with the natural gas
by the fuel cell is supplied to a building through reformer performance curve for a fuel cell stack.
a DC-AC converter and an inverter (stand-alone The systems operating temperature is 333 K,
system), or through an interconnection device with gas pressure at the anode and cathode at 0.1
(central system and partition cooperation system), Mpa (Takeda, Y. et al., 2004, Ibe, S. et al., 2002,
while the exhaust heat of the reformer and fuel Mikkola, M., 2001, Ibaraki Prefecture Govern-
cell are stored in a heat storage tank. The heat ment Office of Education, 2002). The current
from the thermal storage medium is exchanged density and voltage of a single cell are shown in
for tap water. This hot water is supplied to a Figure 4 (b). The generation efficiency of a fuel
back-up boiler, where the temperature of the hot cell system changes with the load factor. In this
water supply is controlled and outputted on the chapter, the curve shown in Figure 4 (a) is used
Figure 4. PEFC performance
108
to describe the relationship between the load fac- connected by Grid 1, and Building C is connected
tor and the generation efficiency of the fuel cell to Grid 2. The capacity of each fuel cell in Grids
with a reformer. 1 and 2 is determined so that it may exceed the
Figure 5 shows the power demand and total maximum value of the power load sum for every
power models for Buildings A, B and C. In a sampling time point for Buildings A and B, and
stand-alone system, the capacity of the PEFC the maximum value of the power load of Building
installed in each building is chosen, and it may C. Although a power plant is installed in two or
exceed the maximum power load of Buildings A, more buildings is DPS, there is one CPS.
B, and C from Figure 5. Since there is no other
power supply, the supply can become intermittent Power Demand Models
when the load exceeds the design capacity. and Analysis Methods
In the central system, the power load of Build-
ings A, B, and C from Figure 5 are summed at Power Demand Model
every sampling time point. The capacity of one
set of PEFCs is determined to exceed the maximum Figure 6 shows the power demand model for each
value over the course of the simulation. In the Tokyo-style building used in the analysis. The
Central system, power generation equipment is plots show the mean power load at each sampling
installed in a single building connected to a mi- time point for representative days in January
crogrid. Although this configuration is advanta- (winter), May (mid-term), and August (summer)
geous in terms of facility cost, the distance the (Architectural Institute of Japan, 2002; Nagase et
cost heat must be transported is considerable, al., 2003; Hatano et al., 2003; Yoshinaga et al.,
releasing heat and reducing efficiency. Moreover, 2003). However, the actual power demand pattern
if the number of buildings linked to the grid or is an assembly of loads that can change rapidly,
the power demand model change, the capacity of e.g. via an inrush current. In Tokyo, the annual
the fuel cell system will remain unchanged. As a average temperature over the past five years has
consequence, extending this type of facility is been 289 K. The average temperature in January
problematic. is 279 K with the highs and lows of 283 K and
In the partition cooperation system, for ex- 275 K. The average temperature in May is 292
ample, Buildings A and B from Figure 5 are K with high and low temperatures of 296 K and
288 K. For August, the average is 298 K, and the
Figure 5. Fuel cell capacity high and low records are 302 K and 296 K (Na-
tional Astronomical Observatory, 2003). Since
the room-cooling load of an air-conditioner is
included in the power demand for a representative
day in August, the power demand is considerably
higher than in other months.
Forecasting the power demand for the houses
shown in Figure 6 (a) to (d) is difficult. Power
demand forecasts are more straightforward for
small offices and factories like those shown in
Figures 6 (g) and (h). Although short timescale
load fluctuations are not taken into consideration
for the power demand model in this chapters
analysis, when accompanied by load fluctuations
109
Figure 6. Power consumption models
it is important to investigate the dynamic charac- considerable power demand, is clear in offices
teristics of a grid. The power demand pattern of (Figure 6 (g)), factories (Figure 6 (h)), and hos-
a house (from Figures 6 (a) to (d)) peaks in both pitals (Figure 6(i)).
the morning and afternoon. A hotel (Figure 6 (e)) Figure 7 shows a model of the urban area that
has a stabilized demand when the time points was used for analysis. The type of power demand
from midnight to early morning are removed. model used for the 23 buildings is also listed. The
Convenience stores have a continuous power numbers shown in the figure correspond to Table 1,
demand (Figure 6 (f)) because their business in which the floor area and the assumed maximum
activities are conducted 24 hours a day. The dif- load for each building are listed. During analysis,
ference between the period of night to early morn- the urban area model from Figure 7 was used with
ing, which has little power demand, and the pe- the power demands shown in Figures 6 (a) to (i).
riod of morning to evening, which has a The relationship between the load factor of PEFC
110
Figure 7. Arrangement of buildings
Table 1. Maximum power load for each building

and the generation efficiency of the model is shown
in Figure 4 (a). Since the maximum generation
efficiency of the model of Figure 4 (a) is 32%, the
maximum generation efficiency of the microgrid
analyzed is theoretically 32%.
Analysis Method
The steps used to calculate the generation effi-

ciency of the FC microgrid are shown in Figure
8. First, the power demand model of the buildings
111
Figure 8. Analysis flow

all permutations of the number of buildings. The
power load and load factor of the fuel cell for each
grid route are calculated for every sampling time.
The capacity range of the fuel cell installed in each
route of the FC microgrid is calculated beforehand,
while the generation efficiency of this grid route
is calculated using these load factors to find the
approximate expression described in Figure 4
(a). Next, the capacity of the fuel cell installed in
each grid route of the FC microgrid is changed,
and the generation efficiency of the grid route is
calculated using the same procedure. After all the
grid routes are searched by the calculation, the
grid route with the optimal generation efficiency
is selected. The generation efficiency of the FC
microgrid is determined for a representative day
(defined as the average generation efficiency of a
representative day). Using the procedure described
above, it is possible to calculate the average genera-
tion efficiency of a representative day in a month
using the stand-alone system, central system, and
partition cooperation system models.
Stand-Alone System
Figure 9 shows the analysis results for the rep-

resentative average generation efficiency for the
stand-alone system for each building in the urban
area model shown in Figure 7. Although the av-
erage generation efficiency differs every month,
the efficiency for convenience stores peaks at
about 30%. In addition, the average generation
in the urban area model is prepared for analysis. efficiency of a representative day in August, when
These power demands are then inputted into a many room-cooling loads are high in hotels and
program at every sampling time. The overall power hospitals, finds the average generation efficiency
demand of all the buildings in urban areas is also of other buildings to be less than 20%. Since the
inputted into the program. Next, the program distance for conveying exhaust heat is short, add-
searches for all the routes of the FC microgrid ing a stand-alone system to a building that has a
that can be installed in the urban area model. This considerable heat demand is effective. When such
route planning is accomplished by calculating a system is installed in a house, its generation
efficiency is low.
112
Figure 9. Average generation efficiency of the

sentative days in January and May is 110 kW. On a
stand alone system
representative day in August, the optimal capacity
is 160 kW. The average generation efficiency of
representative days in January, May, and August
are 25.8%, 26.1%, and 24.8%, respectively. There-
fore, in order to install the central system in the
urban area model from Figure 7, a 160-kW fuel
cell system is required. When a 160-kW PEFC is
installed, the average generation efficiency of a
representative day in January and May is 20.6%
and 20.9%, respectively. Therefore, the genera-
tion efficiency of the FC microgrid is between
20.6% to 24.8%.
Partition Cooperation System
1. Distribution of Small-Capacity Fuel Cells
Central System A. Average monthly generation efficiency
Figure 10 shows the relationship between the PEFCs have a power generation capacity of 2 kW
capacity and the generation efficiency for the fuel or 5 kW. The way that the power is distributed to
cell system when the central system is installed the urban area modeled in Figure 7 is examined.
in the urban area model shown in Figure 7. The Figures 11 (a) to (c) show the analysis results for
optimal capacity of the fuel cell system on repre- the partition cooperation system when the PEFC is
Figure 10. Power generation efficiency of the central system
113
installed, assuming a power generation capacity of Since conditions in August require a consider-
2 kW. Figures 13 (a) to (c) show the analysis results able amount of power for room cooling, thus the
when the PEFC has a power generation capacity optimal grid route and fuel capacity results from
of 5 kW. Two or more buildings with the same August are applicable to other months. Therefore,
power demand model are included in the urban the August PEFC grid route, with power genera-
area model. Since these models are exchangeable, tion capacities of 2 kW or 5 kW, was used in the
there are other possible grid routes beyond those power demand model to calculate the generation
shown in Figures 11(a) to (c) and Figures 13 (a) efficiency for January. These results are shown
to (c). The average generation efficiencies for in Figures 12 and 14. As shown in Figure 12, the
representative days in January, May, and August average generation efficiency for a representative
for the 2-kW PEFC are 23%, 22.7%, and 20.4%, day in January is 19.9%, which is 2.5% lower than
respectively. In the 5-kW case, they are 23.2%, in August. Therefore, if a PEFC with a power gen-
23.7%, and 21.6%, respectively. eration capacity of 2 kW is used in the urban area
model shown in Figure 7, power for 11 buildings
B. Annual operation using the same grid will be supplied by four grids, Grids A to D, and
the generation efficiency will increase from 19.9%
Figure 11. Analysis results for the partition cooperation micro-grid system using a 2kW PEFC
Figure 12. Analysis result for January, using the results from August for the grid configuration
114
Figure 13. Analysis results of the partition cooperation micro-grid system using a 5kW PEFC
Figure 14. Analysis result in January where the August grid is used (Figure 13(c)). A 5kW PEFC is
installed in each grid. Average generation efficiency is 19.2%.
to 20.4% throughout the year. In other words, or more buildings have identical power demand
the average generation efficiency is about 20%. models, it is possible to exchange these identical
Moreover, the results of Figure 14 show that the buildings to obtain the same result. Figure 16
average generation efficiency of a representative (a) shows generation efficiency analysis results
day in January is 19.2%, which is 11.1% lower for the grid route results shown in Figure 15 (c)
than a representative day in August. With a 5-kW when the August power demand model is used
PEFC, power for 11 buildings is supplied by three for a representative day in January. Moreover,
grids, Grids A to C, and the generation efficiency Figure 16 (b) shows the same analysis for May.
changes from 19.2% to 21.6% throughout the year. Compared with Figure 15 (c), the generation
efficiencies found in Figures 16 (a) and (b) are
2. Optimizing Grid Routes by Maximizing the lower for Grids A to C. The average generation
Generation Efficiency efficiency of the overall grid shown in Figure 16
(a) is 21.1%, and 21.3% for Figure 16 (b). There-
A. Results of DPS fore, the average generation efficiency of the FC
microgrid, which is composed of a combinations
Figures 15 (a) to (c) show the grid combinations of the largest grid, varies from 21.1% to 27.6%
with the highest average generation efficiency of throughout the year. This range of this values
all the grids that were analyzed. However, since two exceeds the average generation efficiency of each
115
Figure 15. Analysis results of the partition cooperation system (DPS)
Figure 16. Analysis result in January and May when using the grid routes from August (Figure 15(c))
months representative day when a 160-kW fuel ment, operation on a representative day in May
cell is used for the central system (from 20.6% to (where one grid is set at 45 kW and the other is set
24.8%) as shown in Figure 10. to 65 kW, as shown in Figure 17 (b)) is calculated
using the fuel cell capacity of the microgrid on a
B. Results of CPS representative day in August (two sets at 45 kW
and one set at 65 kW, shown in Figure 17 (c)).
The DPS analysis results from Figure 15 (c) Furthermore, if Grids B and C from Figure 15
show that the capacity of the fuel cell system (a) are combined (25 kW + 38 kW), the power
linked to Grids A and B is 45 kW, while for Grid can be supplied with the new specifications (one
C it is 60 kW. The generation efficiency for a set at 45 kW, and one set at 65 kW) of the grid
microgrid with CPS is also investigated. Based on for a representative day in January, as shown in
the analysis result of Figure 15 (b), the capacity Figure 17 (a). In this way, the average genera-
of the fuel cell system for Grid A is 45 kW, and tion efficiency for a representative day of each
the capacity of the fuel cell system for Grid B is month can be achieved by replacing the capacity
65 kW. Therefore, the 60 kW capacity of the Grid of the fuel cell system as shown in Figures 17(a)
C fuel cell system shown in Figure 15 (c) must be to(c). Therefore, the annual average generation
replaced by a 65 kW system. Due to this replace- efficiency of CPS changes from 24.6% to 27.6%.
116
Figure 17. Analysis results of the partition cooperation system (CPS)
The value range increases from 21.1 to 27.6% the Partition cooperation system is about 1/2 to
for DPS, and from 20.6 to 24.8% in the central 1/3 the number needed in the stand-alone system.
system. Accordingly, in the fuel cell microgrid Even when small-capacity fuel cell systems are
that connects all the buildings in the urban area used in urban areas, the stand alone system is at
model from Figure 7, the CPS configuration has a disadvantage because more systems are needed
the highest generation efficiency. than in the partition cooperation system (DPS).
3. Number of Installed Fuel Cells in the Stand- Conclusions

Alone System and the Partition Cooperation
System (DPS) The optimal grid route and fuel cell capacity for
Figure 18 shows the power demand model for urban microgrids was investigated in order to
a representative day each month. The analysis maximize a power grids generation efficiency. In
results for the number of fuel cells (1 kW and this chapter, fuel cell microgrids were categorized
2 kW) used in the stand-alone system, and with into stand-alone systems, central systems, and
the partition cooperation system (DPS) are also partition cooperation systems. All three system
shown. The number of fuel cells necessary for types were investigated. The partition cooperation
system used both the DPS (distributed installa-
tion method of the partition cooperation system)
Figure 18. Method and number of units installed and CPS (concentrated installation method of the
partition cooperation system) methods. After cal-
culating the generation efficiency for each type of
microgrid by numerical analysis of urban Tokyo
settings, the following conclusions were reached:
1. When the stand-alone system is installed in a

house, the generation efficiency is less than
20% throughout the year. On the other hand,
the generation efficiencies of convenience
stores and hotels, with 24-hour business
activities and relatively constant power
demands, are high compared with houses.
August, in particular, has many room-cooling
117
loads. Thus, the load factor of the fuel cell efficiency of the whole system will fall (Obara and
rises and the generation efficiency for this Kudo, 2000, 2003, 2005). Moreover, the distribu-
month is high. tion to the house of the fuel cell CGS with city gas
2. The generation efficiency of central sys- reforming device (reformer) is considered (Bauen
tem for the FC microgrid is 20.6 to 24.8% & Hart, 2000; Lariviere et al., 1998). Since fuel
throughout the year. Central systems, espe- cells differ greatly in dynamic characteristics of
cially when used in houses, can operate with temperature control from reformers, operational
generation efficiencies that are superior to plans become complicated (Yerramalla & Fe-
those obtained with the stand-alone system. liachi, 2003; Hamelin et al., 2001; Hatziadoniu
3. The generation efficiency of the DPS et al., 2004; He, 1995). In one example of an
microgrid, which uses a grid route that examination of a fuel cell CGS, it took an hour
optimizes the generation efficiency, peaks or more to generate stable hydrogen continuously
at 21.1% to 27.6% throughout the year. from a cold start (Krist, 1999; Nagata et al.,
4. The generation efficiency of the CPS mi- 1999). Thus, the response of the load follow-up
crogrid is 24.6% to 27.6% throughout the characteristics in city gas reformers is greatly
year. These value are the highest of all the inferior to the response of the load follow-up
methods examined in this chapter. characteristics of a fuel cell. If the operation of
a reformer is started and stopped, consumption
Thus, this chapter proposes that CPS is the of fuel is followed on these operations. In this
best installation method for fuel cell microgrids. case, a hydrogen gas storage cylinder should be
These results take into account the number of introduced, the number of starts and stops of
power plants with fuel cell microgrids, generation the reformer should be reduced, and operational
efficiency, and grid safety (cases where significant planning of the fuel cell and the reformer should
load fluctuations occur are more likely to fail). be performed separately. Considering distributing
single fuel cell CGS in a residence, solutions to
the technical problems of (a) the system efficiency
FUEL CELL NETWORK WITH falling by frequent occurrence of partial load
WATER ELECTROLYSIS FOR operation, and (b) requiring complicated opera-
IMPROVING PARTIAL LOAD tional planning due to the differences between
EFFICIENCY OF A RESIDENTIAL the dynamic characteristics of the reformer and
COGENERATION SYSTEM the fuel cell, are required.
In this chapter, we try to solve these problems
Introduction using a network of fuel cells. Operation optimi-
zation of a fuel cell network system is analyzed
If the distance between a power station and an using genetic algorithm. The genetic algorithm
energy consuming region is large, the equipment can be used for a nonlinear problem and it is the
cost, transportation losses of electric power and characteristic further that many variables are si-
thermal energy losses become important. It is more multaneously analyzable (Obara & Kudo, 2000,
effective to install small cogeneration systems 2003, 2005). In the fuel cell network system, fuel
(CGS) near the consumer location to overcome systems (Hydrogen and oxygen gas piping) and
these problems. The prediction of changes in output systems (power lines and hot water pip-
energy demand will be difficult in an individual ing) of distribution of fuel cell CGS are joined,
house, therefore partial load operation will occur and carry out cooperative operation of all the
frequently for the operation of the CGS, and the devices linked to such a network, for the primary
118
objective of minimizing fuel cost. For two or The Fuel Cell CGS Network Model,
more fuel cells linked to the network, if the fuel and Energy and Substance Balance
cell group which carries out power generation is
operating in a partial load, the quantity of power The Network Model
generation will be increased so that the fuel cell
group can operate at a higher efficiency. The The network model of the fuel cell CGS installed
water electrolysis operation is performed by fuel in individual houses, as assumed in this chapter,
cells other than the fuel cell group which gener- is shown in Figure 19. The fuel cell CGS installed
ates power. In this case, the hydrogen and oxygen in each house is connected with hydrogen gas
gases which are generated are stored in cylinders system piping, oxygen gas system piping, an
throughout the network. These are consumed by electric system power line, and hot water piping
power generation of arbitrary fuel cells at arbi- of an exhaust heat system. However, all the fuel
trary times. Although there is one previous case cells linked to the network are proton-exchange
study of a fuel cells network operation (Padull, membrane types. The generation of hydrogen gas
2000), descriptions of the measure of partial by water electrolysis and oxygen gas is possible for
load operation, and operational planning of fuel all fuel cells linked to the network. The operating
cells and the reformer were not included. In this temperature of the fuel cell is 330K to 345K, and
chapter, the hypothetical effects of introduction the pressure of an anode is 0.1 to 0.5 MPa, and
of fuel cell CGS network into individual houses when supplying air to a cathode by a blower, it
in Tokyo is investigated from an operational plan- is an atmospheric pressure mostly. The hot water
ning perspective for the objective of minimizing system performs heat recovery from fuel cells
operational cost, in other words, for minimizing and supplies thermal energy to each house. Hot
the consumption of city gas. water flows in the one direction, as shown by the
Figure 19. Fuel cell network system model
119
arrows in Figure 19. The cylinders which store The Improvement-in-Efficiency

hydrogen gas and oxygen gas are installed in the Measure of Partial Load
machinery room of house 1, and both gases are
generated when carrying out water electrolysis Figure 20 shows the network models for the elec-
operation of the fuel cells linked to the network. tric power line and the hot water line. The variables,
Both gases are assumed to be pressurized to which indicate the efficiency of each electric
1.0MPa with compressors and then stored in the power and thermal energy device, are described
cylinders. The city gas reformer is also installed in Figure 2 (a) and Figure 20(b). The power gen-
in the machinery room, and hydrogen gas can be eration efficiency Conv ,t of the conventional
supplied to the network at arbitrary times. On system (combination of single fuel cell and single
the other hand, it is necessary to synchronize the reformer) in the sampling time t ( = 0, 1, 2, , R ,
operation of a fuel cell and a reformer for a sys-
operation period of the system which determined
tem that combines a single fuel cell and a single
R beforehand) is the product of the power gen-
reformer, as in a conventional system. Moreover,
eration efficiency fa ,m ,t of the fuel cell and the
the standby time taken up by the reformer prior
to starting and stopping, and the poor follow-up efficiency r ,t of the reformer which supplies
characteristics at the time of a load change, are hydrogen gas and air. Since the electric power
problems. The network system has a specific generation efficiency Net ,t for generating hydro-
method of storage of the hydrogen gas and the gen and oxygen by water electrolysis of the fuel
oxygen gas, and for connecting the fuel cells to cells follows the course of the city gas reforming,
the reformer through the network. Therefore, the fuel cell power generation (air supplied to the
fuel cells and the reformer can be independently cathode), the water electrolysis by the fuel cell,
employed. A thermal storage tank and a backup and fuel cell power generation (oxygen supplied
boiler can also be installed in the machinery room, to cathode), Net ,t can be calculated by the prod-
and heat can be supplied to each house at arbitrary
uct:
times through the hot water system network.
The electric power used by the water elec-
trolysis operation of fuel cells is supplied by r ,t fa ,m ,t el ,n ,t fo,m ,t
electric power generated by other fuel cells through
the power line. The hydrogen and oxygen gases of each efficiency. Here, subscript t expresses
consumed by the fuel cells for power generation the arbitrary time containing the sampling time
are supplied by the water electrolysis operation t . Furthermore, to store the gases generated by
in other fuel cells, or are stored in cylinders. the reformer and water electrolysis operation of
However, since there is no generation method for fuel cells in cylinders by pressurizing with com-
oxygen when generating hydrogen gas by the pressors, the electric power consumed by the
reformer, air is supplied to the fuel cells. The compression is taken into consideration in this
power generation characteristics of the fuel cells chapter. The water electrolysis operation of some
differ greatly depending on whether oxygen gas fuel cells linked to the network becomes advanta-
or air is supplied to the cathodes of the fuel cells. geous from the viewpoint of the quantity of
This will be described further in later section. electric power consumed by the gas compression
120
Figure 20. Conversion efficiency of fuel cell network
and power generation efficiency. This is the case er hydrogen gas consumption of the fuel cells (
where the operation methods in Net ,t exceeding M sets) for power generation thanQa ,H ,t , the
2
Conv ,t exists, when the value of Conv ,t falls by reformer is operated and city gas is reformed. The
partial load operation. quantity of city gas flow at this time is Qr ,t , and
the hydrogen gas ingredient in reforming gas is
Energy Flow the quantity of flow Qr ,H ,t .
2
The electric power output from the M sets of

Figure 21 shows the energy flow in the sampling
the fuel cells covers the total electricity demand
time t of the fuel cells ( M sets) which carry out
the power generation operation and the fuel cells Et of each house, the power consumption:
( N sets) which carry out water electrolysis op-
eration, linked to the network. The hydrogen and Eel ,n ,t (n = 1, 2,..., N )
oxygen gases (quantity of flow is Q f ,H ,t and
2
Q f ,O ,t ) generated by water electrolysis of fuel of N sets of the fuel cells which carry out water
2
electrolysis, and the power consumption (in this
cells are stored in separate cylinders through the
chapter, the electric power EComp,H ,t and
networks of hydrogen and oxygen lines, respec- 2
tively. At this time, the quantity of each gas to be EComp,O ,t consumed by the compression of
2
stored from time period t to t + 1 is set to BH ,t hydrogen and oxygen gases is taken into consid-
2
and BO ,t . Furthermore, quantity of hydrogen and eration) of the auxiliary machines of the network
2
through the electric power system network. With
oxygen gases flowing at the time of supplying the
regards to heat energy, the exhaust heat:
fuel cells, which carry out the power generation
operation from cylinders through the networks
H f ,m ,t (m = 1, 2,..., M )
are set to Qa ,H ,t and Qa ,O ,t . When there is great-
2 2
121
Figure 21. Energy flow
of M sets of fuel cells, the quantity of thermal the network based on demand, the 2nd term rep-
storage Bh ,t in a thermal storage tank, and the resents the power consumption for the operation
heat H b,t of the backed boiler by city gas (quan- of the fuel cells in which N sets of water elec-
trolysis are performed, and the 3rd term express-
tity of flow is Qb,t ) provide the heat demand H t es the power consumption of Y sets of the aux-
through the hot water network. iliary machines (pump in the hot water system
network, compressors of hydrogen and oxygen
Energy and Substance Balance gases, etc.) for maintaining the network.
Furthermore, the heat balance of the system
The electric power balance in the sampling time can be shown to be the following equation.
t is shown by the following equation of the fuel
cell CGS network system, constituted from fuel M
cells which perform N sets of water electrolysis, H f ,m ,t

+ H S ,t + H b,t = H t
and fuel cells which perform M sets of power
m =1
N M
(2)
generation. + H el ,n ,t + H f ,i,t
n =1 i =1
M N Y
E f ,m ,t
= Et + Eel ,n ,t + Esub,q ,t The left side is the overall heat output of the
m =1 n =1 q =1
system. The 1st term expresses the heat output by
(1)
M sets of fuel cell CGS, the 2nd term expresses
the heat output of the thermal storage tank, and
The left side of this equation expresses the
the 3rd term expresses the heat output of the
gross total power output of the DC-AC converter,
backed boiler. The right-hand side expresses
of M sets of fuel cells which carry out the
consumption of heat, wherein the 1st term is the
power generation operation. The 1st term of the
heat output supplied to a house based on demand
right-hand side is the supply to houses through
122
through the heat system network, and the 2nd consumed by the reformer and the backed boiler
term expresses the heat consumed by N sets of (Qr ,t and Qb,t , respectively) are added, and Qc,t
the fuel cells which perform water electrolysis. is estimated.
The 3rd term expresses heat loss from the heat
system network (i.e. the hot water piping). This Qc,t = Qr ,t + Qb,t (5)
quantity is proportional to the distance li k from
the house (number i ) which carries a heat output
to the house (number k ) which receives a supply The objective function of the system, and
of heat from the network, and is defined by Equa- calculation of the fitness value
tion (3) shown below. The objective of the analysis is to search for
an operation pattern with minimum city gas con-
M sumption of the system for an operational period
H f ,i ,t
= li k (3) from t = 0 to R . Therefore, the operational
i =1
planning represented by the value in the paren-
thesis of Equation (6) should be smaller for a
in this equation is a coefficient based on the better solution. The genetic algorithm which is
quantity of heat loss per unit length of hot water one of the optimization techniques is introduced,
piping which, in the case study in later section, and an operational planning is performed. The
assumes that thermal insulation material is used optimization analysis in the genetic algorithm
for keeping the general piping warm, and a tem- described in later section is also a solution with
perature difference between hot water and outside a high degree of the fitness value of the genetic
air is assumed to be 40K and is given by 15 algorithm.
W/m.
Equation (4) shows the hydrogen balance in R
the system. The 1st term on the left side is the minimize Qc,t (6)
t =0
hydrogen gas generated by the fuel cells while
performing N sets of water electrolysis, the 2nd
term expresses the quantity of hydrogen gas flow Device Characteristics and
supplied by the cylinder, and the 3rd term ex- Relational Expression
presses the quantity of hydrogen gas generation
of the reformer. The right-hand side expresses the The Output Characteristics
amount of hydrogen gas consumed by M sets of of the Fuel Cell CGS
the fuel cells which carry out power generation.
The equation for oxygen gas balance in the system Figure 22 shows the results of performance mea-
is very similar to Equation (4). surement of the fuel cell developed at a Japanese
company (Mikkola, 2001; Ibaraki Prefecture
N M Government Office of Education, 2002). When
Qel ,n,H 2
,t
+ Qa ,H
2
,t
+ Qr ,H
2
,t
= Q f ,m ,H ,t
2 either oxygen gas or air is supplied to the cathode
n =1 m =1
(4) of a fuel cell, a difference in catalyst reactions
arises and power generation characteristics differ
The total quantity of the city gas Qc,t supplied greatly. Consequently, the area (portion shown by
the straight line in Figure 22) where the electric
to t + 1 from the sampling time t in the system
power output is proportional to load differs based
is shown in Equation (5). The quantity of city gas
on whether oxygen or air is supplied to the cathode.
123
Figure 22. Cell performance

Figures 23 and 24 show the relationship between
the rate of load and power generation gross ef-
ficiency when supplying air and oxygen gas.
Water Electrolysis Operation of the Fuel

Cell
The relationship between power consumption and

hydrogen generation, when the fuel cells were
used for water electrolysis (electrode area being
approximately1m2) as seen in Figure 22, is shown
in Figure 25. Electric power consumed by the
water electrolysis operations is set to Eel , j ,t , the
quantity of hydrogen gas generated is set to
Qel , j ,H ,t , and the generation efficiency el of the
2
Figure 23. Output characteristics of a hydrogen-air fuel cell
124
Figure 24. Output characteristics of a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell
Figure 25. Characteristics of water electrolysis of fuel cell
125
hydrogen obtained from the sampling time t to the compressor in this case is assumed to be
t + 1 by water electrolysis of a fuel cell j is compressive work using an ideal gas, and is cal-
calculated by the following equation. culated by Equation (8). Here, c expresses the
whole compressor efficiency including inverter
Eel , j ,t Aj controller loss, the power consumption in an
Qel , j ,H = el (7)
2
,t
FD Vj electric motor, power transfer loss, loss with insuf-
ficient air leaks, cooling loss, and other machine
losses. In the case study in later section, the
The Output Characteristics of the City value of c is given as 0.5 (Kyakuno, 2003).
Gas Reformer
Moreover, both hydrogen and oxygen gases are
pressurized and stored to PComp,H = 1.0MPa
The output characteristics of the city gas reformer 2
under development are shown in Figure 26 for a using compressors.

Japanese manufacture company. The upper plot
in Figure 26 shows the relationship between the Lc,H ,t
= P U ,t ln(PComp,H / P ) / c
2 2
ratio of load and ratio of reformation. The ratio of (8)
reformation is low due to partial loading at about
25% or less. On the other hand, the rate of load The Analysis Method of the
efficiency shows a stable rated output at 25% or Operational Planning
more. The lower plot of Figure 26 is the relation
between the quantity of consumption of the city gas The network is constituted from fuel cell CGS
(methane gas is assumed in this chapter) and the which can choose between operations of power
quantity of hydrogen generation of the reformer. generation or water electrolysis, and the opera-
tional planning of this energy system is analyzed
The Characteristics of Storage of by the genetic algorithm.
Hydrogen Gas and Oxygen Gas
The Chromosome Model
Hydrogen and oxygen gases generated during the
water electrolysis operation of the fuel cells, and Figure 27 is the chromosome model introduced
the hydrogen gas generated by the reformer are into the genetic algorithm, which performs group
pressurized and stored in cylinders. The work of division of the gene model of a chromosome
Figure 26. Characteristics of city gas reformer
126
model, and expresses the operation of all fuel cells time interval of t + 1 from t . All the opera-
and the reformer. The following information from tional patterns of the operation period R are
the sampling time t to t + 1 is expressed with decided by creating such chromosome models
the gene model: the information on fuel cells that with respect to each sampling time to
generate power and the selection of fuel cells t = 0, 1, 2, , R . The chromosome models of all
which carry out water electrolysis; information such operation periods R of the system are called
on the amount of hydrogen gas generated in the an individual. This individual is generated in
fuel cells which carry out water electrolysis; the large numbers at random, gene operations (the
quantity of power generation of the fuel cells reproduction, the selection, the crossover, the
which carry out power generation; and informa- mutation) are added under the objective function
tion on the quantity of hydrogen gas generated by shown in Equation (6), and it searches for the
the reformer. The chromosome model of Figure optimal operational pattern with changing gen-
27 expresses the operation patterns of all fuel cells erations. The analysis flow using genetic algorithm
and the reformer connected to the network in the is shown in Figure 28.
Figure 28. Genetic algorithm
127
Details of the Analysis Method divided into two or more domains, to generate
least-squares method approximation equations.
Electricity demand by consumers and the quan- The output characteristics of the backed boiler are
tity of electric power consumed within the fuel not based on the quantity of the hot-water supply,
cells, and the hydrogen and the oxygen gas com- but yields an efficiency of 0.75. The capacity of
pressor which carry out water electrolysis opera- the thermal storage tank and the gas cylinders are
tion will be given by the energy balance Equation considered to be unknown, and the hydrogen and
(1), and the total quantity of power generation of the oxygen gases are considered to be pressurized
the fuel cell which carries out power generation to 1.0 MPa with compressors, and are stored in
operation will be decided. When the fuel cells cylinders.
which carry out power generation operation show
a plurality, the rate of power generated by each Energy Demand Patterns
fuel cell is assigned at random. City gas is con-
sumed by the reformer(Qr ,t ) and backed boiler( In this case study analysis, the interval of sampling
Qb,t ). The amount of hydrogen is calculated from time was 1 hour, and R introduces the energy
demand pattern of an individual house in Tokyo
Qr ,H ,t
in Equation (4), and the amount of theories in every month for a representative day from 0 to
2
of the city gas which a steam-reforming reaction 23 hours. However, if operational planning is
takes is calculated from this value. The amount performed at intervals of sampling time from
of theories of city gas is divided by the reformer several minutes to dozens of minutes, an analysis
efficiency r ,t , and Qr ,t is obtained. Moreover, is possible by applying the energy demand pattern
if H b,t in Equation (2) is decided, H b,t will be for short intervals. On the other hand, since
changes in demand such as the inrush current for
divided by boiler efficiency b,t and Qb,t will be
less than one second requires a special examina-
decided. tion, it is not described in this chapter.
The analysis example in this chapter introduces
Case Study two energy demand patterns shown in Figure 29
(a) and (b). The axis of ordinate of Figure 29
System Outline expresses the quantity of the standard condition
of the town gas consumed in five houses in 24
The operational planning of the fuel cell network hours. The demand pattern A (Figure 29 (a)) is
system for the five individual houses in Figure 19 for the state in which five houses were simply
is calculated using the energy demand model in added and the energy demands of every house
the individual houses in Tokyo (Nagase, 2003). was synchronized with the electric power and the
The horizontal axis of the figures under Figure heat demand pattern of one individual house. The
23, Figure 24, and Figure 25 is divided into two demand pattern B (Figure 29 (b)) assumes the state
or more domains, and the least-squares method wherein the energy demand of an individual house
approximation formulas to the 4th clause are for five houses is carried out uniformly in a time
generated for each domain, and the output char- shift. In Figure 29, since the individual house is
acteristics of power generation operation and assumed, there is much energy demanded at 17:00
the hydrogen generation characteristics of water to 21:00 when all families are at home. There will
electrolysis operation of the fuel cell are given. be much power consumption of space heating and
The horizontal axis of the figure under Figure 26 cooling which uses an air-conditioner from 17:00
for the characteristics of the reformer was also in 21:00. Moreover, since heat is used for hot-water
128
Figure 29. Energy demand patterns
supply and a bath, the demand patterns of electric Analysis Parameters

power and heat differ in Figure 11 (a). The period
of analysis stops, 24 hours after starting a system In consideration of maintaining the diversity of
at 0:00 of the energy demand pattern of Figure 29. an individual group, the number of individuals
The standard energy demand pattern of indi- were 5500, the number of generations was 20, and
vidual house, the amount of demand which intersection probability and mutation probability
shifted 1 and 2 hours before by the standard were set to 0.9, for the values of the parameters
demand pattern, and the amount of demand which introduced into the genetic algorithm, respectively.
shifted 1 and 2 hours after were added, and the The hot water temperature in piping is 333K. And
demand pattern B was obtained. In the analysis, the fuel cell operation is following the electric
the value of Figure 29 (b) is divided equally into power load.
five parts, and the electric power and the quan-
tity of heat demand of each house of the demand The Effect of Fuel Cell Network
pattern B are given. The electric power and the
quantity of heat demand are equalized, the de- Figure 30 (a) and (b) are the results of the city
mand pattern B has a small value of the maximum gas consumption for a representative day of every
load, and its demand change through the repre- month with the energy demand patterns A and
sentative day is small compared with the demand B, respectively. The rate of annual reduction in
pattern A. the quantity of fuel consumed when introducing
129
Figure 30. Comparison of operation cost
the fuel cell network system, when compared to tion effect of the quantity of city gas consumption
the quantity of city gas consumption of the con- of the network system is large are 1.5 or less. If
ventional system is about 6% with the demand energy demand patterns, which have a high fre-
pattern B, and about 7% with the demand pattern quency of appearance of F 1.5 is applied, the
A. Moreover, large reductions in the city gas reduction effect of the driving cost of the network
consumption were demonstrated when compared system will become large. The value of F is de-
with the conventional system for both the demand termined by both the thermoelectric ratio of the
patterns from May through October. fuel cell CGS, and the relation of energy effi-
The analysis results of the operational planning ciency.
of thermal storage in each time interval of a rep-
resentative day for every month are shown in The Effects of Water Electrolysis
Figure 32. The quantity of thermal storage is Operation of the Fuel Cell
higher for each representative day from May to
October. From the results shown in Figure 30 (a) and (b),
The ratio of heat demand to the electricity the city gas consumption of the network system
demand of the energy demand pattern (F) intro- in which water electrolysis operation of the fuel
duced in Figure 31 in this analysis is shown. The cells is possible, shows a roughly 2% decrease by
values of F from May to October when the reduc- the demand pattern A compared with a system
Figure 31. Ratio of electric energy demand to thermal energy demand
130
Figure 32. Quantity of thermal storage
which does not perform the water electrolysis. 1. When energy supply comes from the fuel
The gas consumption shows about a 1% decrease cell network, a 9% reduction in the quantity
by the demand pattern B. The analysis results of of city gas consumption at the maximum
the demand pattern A is better than the demand was obtained as compared to a conventional
pattern B. The change in demand of electric power system (the conventional system is a method
is equalized in time shifts, and the demand pattern of energy supply with single fuel cell CGS
B shows less number of times of appearance of and a single reformer).
partial load. On the other hand, in the analysis of 2. 2% of this is the method of storing, in cylin-
the demand pattern A, the range of fluctuation of ders, hydrogen and oxygen gases generated
load is large and there are a number of appear- by water electrolysis of the fuel cells through
ances of partial load. However, as Figure 23 and the network, carrying out the time shift of
24 showed, unless the load dropped to 50% or less, these, using at the time of power generation
the efficiency of the fuel cell did not decrease, but of the fuel cells, and is an effect correspond-
in this analysis, the effect of water electrolysis ing to partial load.
operation became small. When the capacity of a 3. The amount of city gas consumed by a
fuel cell is large and the operation time in partial proposal system has less ratio of electric
load, for which load is much less than 50% is energy demand to thermal energy demand
long, the method of carrying out water electrolysis in less than 1.5 fuel cell network than fuel
operation using the fuel cells is available. cells (conventional system) of distributed
installation.
Conclusions
The analysis method of a system which connects REFERENCES

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133
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
Equipment Symbols
A : Electrode area [m2]

B : Quantity of storage [kg]
Bh : Quantity of thermal storage [kJ]
E : Electric power [kW]
E : Electric power consumption [kW]
F : The ratio of heat demand to the electricity demand of the energy demand pattern
FD : The number of Faraday (96500C/mol) [C/kg]
Gw : Power generation or water electrolysis selection switch
H : Heat [kW]
H : Heat consumption [kW]
L : Work [J]
l : Distance [m]
M : Sets of the fuel cell which carries out power generation operation
N : Sets of the fuel cell which carries out water electrolysis operation
P : Pressure [Pa]
P : Atmosphere pressure [Pa]
Q : Quantity of flow [kg/s]
R : Operation period of system [s]
RL : Ratio of load [-]
RR : Ratio of reformation [-]
T : Temperature [K]
t : Sampling time
t : Expresses the arbitrary time containing the sampling time t
U : Volume rate of flow [m3/s]
V : Voltage [V]
W : Number of the fuel cells linked to the network
Y : The number of the auxiliary devices which consume electric power
Greek Symbols
: The coefficient of the amount of heat loss per unit length of hot water piping (Equation (3))
[W/m]
: Efficiency
Conv ,t : Power generation efficiency of the conventional system
Net ,t : Electric power generation efficiency for generating hydrogen and oxygen by water elec-
trolysis of the fuel cells (= r ,t fa ,m ,t el ,n ,t fo,m ,t )
134
Subscripts
a : Gas cylinder
b : Backed boiler
c : City gas
el : Water electrolysis
f : Fuel cell
fa : The fuel cell which supplies air to cathode
fo : The fuel cell which supplies oxygen to cathode
m : The code of the fuel cell which carries out power generation operation
n : The code of the fuel cell which carries out water electrolysis operation
r : Reformer
s : Thermal storage tank
: Atmosphere
Equipment Symbols
C/O: CO oxidation system

FC: Fuel cell
R/M: Natural gas reformer
135
136
Chapter 5
Fuel Cell Microgrid with
Wind Power Generation
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Analysis of a Fuel Cell Microgrid with a Small-Scale Wind Turbine
Generator and Power Characteristics of a Fuel Cell Microgrid with Wind Power Generation. An
independent microgrid is expected to be effective in cutting greenhouse gas discharge and energy costs.
Therefore, the operating conditions of an independent microgrid that supplies power with renewable
power sources and fuel cells are investigated in the 1st section. In the 2nd section, the dynamic charac-
teristics of fuel cell microgrid are investigated in numerical analysis, and the cost of fuel consumption
and efficiency is also calculated. In addition, the stabilization time of the microgrid and its dynamic
characteristics accompanied by wind-power-generation and fluctuation of the power load are clarified.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION system. Since the output of renewable energy

is unstable, other energy equipment needs to
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. If cover the stability of output. Thus, the operating
electric power is supplied using an independent conditions of an independent microgrid that sup-
microgrid connected to renewable energy, it can plies power with natural power sources and fuel
flexibly match the energy demand characteristics cells are investigated. The operation conditions
of a local area. And an independent microgrid is of a fuel-cell independent microgrid with wind
expected to be effective in cutting greenhouse gas power generation were investigated by numerical
discharge and energy costs, as well as in elimi- analysis. Step loads and an apartment house power
nating the need for an emergency power supply load model were analyzed using the dynamic
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch005
Fuel Cell Microgrid with Wind Power Generation
characteristics of a fuel cell obtained from experi- renewable energy is very effective in reducing
ments. The output of wind power generation and energy costs and cutting greenhouse gas discharge
fuel cells is controlled by proportional-integral (Robert, 2004; Abu-Sharkh et al, 2006; Carlos
control of an independent microgrid for rapid & Hernandez, 2005; Takuma & Goda, 2005).
power demand change. There are systems connected with other electric-
The summary of the 2nd section is as follows. power networks, such as commercial power, and
An independent microgrid that connects with independent electric power supply systems in the
renewable energy has the potential to reduce structure method of a microgrid. An independent
energy costs, and reduce the amount of green- microgrid can reduce transport loss of electric
house gas discharge. However, the frequency and power and heat energy at any location, and may
voltage of a microgrid may not be stable over a serve as the future major energy supply system
long time due to the input of unstable renewable from the viewpoint of energy security. Managing
energy, and changes in short-period power load an independent microgrid following local power
that are difficult to predict. Thus, when planning demand characteristics will greatly contribute to
the installation of a microgrid, it is necessary reducing energy cost and environmental impact. It
to investigate the dynamic characteristics of the is necessary to control the stable supply of electric
power. About the microgrid composed from ten power of a microgrid so that power supply and
houses, a 2.5kW proton exchange membrane fuel demand is balanced. The difference in the power
cell is installed in one building, and this fuel cell demand-and-supply balance of a grid affects the
operated corresponding to a base load is assumed. power quality (voltage and frequency) (Carlos
A 1kW PEFC is installed in other seven houses, & Hernandez, 2005). To connect natural power
in addition a 1.5kW wind turbine generator is in- sources, such as wind force and solar modules,
stalled. The microgrid to investigate connects these to a microgrid, it is necessary to install backup
generating equipments, and supplies the power to energy equipment with quick response in the same
each house. The dynamic characteristics of this grid. However, the power demand of a house is
microgrid were investigated in numerical analysis, accompanied by load fluctuations over a short
and the cost of fuel consumption and efficiency time, which is often difficult to predict. An in-
was also calculated. Moreover, the stabilization dependent microgrid with natural power sources
time of the microgrid and its dynamic character- requires a system that considers load fluctuations
istics accompanied by wind-power-generation and fluctuation in energy supply. As techniques of
and fluctuation of the power load were clarified. controlling these fluctuations, there is a method
of installing accumulation-of-electricity equip-
ment, and a method of connecting the microgrid
ANALYSIS OF A FUEL CELL to other power grids (Alibhai, 2004). At present,
MICROGRID WITH A SMALL-SCALE the method of installing large-capacity accumu-
WIND TURBINE GENERATOR lation-of-power equipment is expensive. More-
over, with the method of connecting a microgrid
Introduction to a commercial power system, the installation
methods (capacity, location, equipments, etc.) of
As for the microgrid technique, a backup power a microgrid have limitations.
supply is effective in an emergency, at peak This study investigates the development of an
cut of a power plant, and for the efficient use independent microgrid using renewable energy
of exhaust heat. It is predicted that an electric (small wind power generator) with unstable out-
power supply technique using a microgrid with put. In order to control the output fluctuation of
137
small wind power generation, a proton-exchange controller, an aerogenerator, an inverter, and an

membrane fuel cell (PEFC) is connected to the I/C. An independent microgrid consists of three
grid. Dynamic characteristics when random power lines, a power network, a town gas network, and
load fluctuations are added to the grid for a short an exhaust heat network. In this Section, the
time are investigated. From these results of the power network of these is called IPG (Independent
investigation, the operation plan and operating Power Grid). A town gas network is connected to
conditions at the time of operating an independent a reformer installed on the first floor. A gas tank
microgrid with small wind power generation are can be connected to a reformer with piping, and
clarified. In the analysis, an independent microgrid reformed gas can be stored. The reformed gas
is introduced into a 4-story apartment house of 12 produced by a reformer is supplied to the fuel
houses, and a 3-kW fuel cell is installed in each cells of each floor by shifting time. Therefore,
floor. Furthermore, the microgrid with one small the dynamic characteristics of the reformer do
wind power generator is analyzed. If there is little not influence the characteristics of F/C (1) - F/C
power demand of a grid, the output fluctuation (4). The power of a fuel cell is connected to IPG
of wind power generation will greatly affect the through an inverter and a system interconnection
power quality (voltage and frequency) of a mi- device. The power of IPG is assumed to be 50 Hz
crogrid. The transient response characteristics of in single-phase 200 V. Moreover, an aerogenerator
the power of the system is analyzed by MATLAB is installed near the apartment house, and the power
(Ver.7.0)/Simulink (Ver.6.0) of Math Work. The obtained by wind power generation is connected
object of this study is to clarify the operation to IPG through an inverter and a system intercon-
conditions of a microgrid when it does not have nection device (W/P). The wind power generation
accumulation-of-electricity equipment, when it system composed of a generator, an inverter, and
does not connect with other grids, when load a system interconnection device is expressed as
fluctuations are taken into consideration, and W/P. The capacity of wind power generation is
when renewable energy is used. assumed to be 3 kW or less. Although this Section
investigates the difference in the power supply and
System Description demand of IPG, it does not take the exhaust heat
network into consideration.
System Configuration and
Control Method 2. Control Method
Figure 1(b) is a block diagram of IPG introduced
1. System Configuration into Figure 1 (a) composed of one wind power
The model of an independent fuel cell microgrid generation system and four PEFC systems of F/C
introduced into an apartment house of 12 houses (1) to F/C (4). C f 1 to C f 4 expresses the instan-
(House (1) -House (12)) is shown in Figure 1 (a). taneous power capacity of PEFC of F/C (1) to
A 3-kW PEFC, an inverter, and a system intercon- F/C (4). When a short power fluctuation of second
nection device are installed in a machine room on 1 or less is added to the fuel cell, the value that
the first floor to the fourth floor of the apartment can be generated with the fuel cell is defined as
house. However, the dynamic characteristics of instantaneous power capacity. In the case study
the fuel cell, inverter, and interconnection device of following Section, the instantaneous power
(I/C) are the same for each piece of equipment. capacity of each fuel cell of F/C (1) - F/C (4) is
Each fuel cell system of F/C (1) - F/C (4) consists 3.3 kW, and the regular power capacity is 3 kW.
of a controller, fuel cell, inverter, and I/C. More- For the power supplied to IPG when the power
over, the wind power system (W/P) consists of a
138
Figure 1. System configuration
139
demand fluctuates, there is a method of control-

Err = (E f 1 + E f 2 + E f 3 + E f 4 + EW ) Ed
ling the production of electricity of each fuel cell,
(2)
and a method of controlling the number of fuel
cells to be operated. If there is little power demand
As shown in Figure 1 (b), the operation of
of IPG, when controlling the production of elec-
each fuel cell is decided by If branch with the
tricity of each fuel cell, two or more fuel cells
magnitude of Err. The proportion-integration
may be operated at partial load with low effi-
(PI) controller (Controller (1) - Controller (4))
ciency. So, this Section examines the system that
for controlling the production of electricity is
controls the number of the fuel cells to be oper-
installed in F/C (4) from F/C (1). The dynamic
ated when the power demand of IPG fluctuates.
characteristics of the power generation of F/C (1)
Thus, F/C (1) is a fuel cell operated correspond-
to F/C (4) and W/P and the PI control parameters
ing to base load, and it controls the number of
beforehand set up by Controller (1) - Controller (4)
operations of F/C (2) to F/C (4) by the magnitude
affect the dynamic characteristics of IPG. So, the
of the load. The power:
next Section describes the dynamic characteristics
of each controller and W/P.
Ef 1 + Ef 2 + Ef 3 + Ef 4
Response Characteristics of Equipment
produced by F/C (1) to F/C (4) and the power (
EW ) produced by wind power generation are 1. Power Generation Characteristics of Wind
supplied to IPG, and power demand ( Ed ) is pro- Power
Figure 2 shows power output models of wind
vided. The sum of the production of electricity of
power generation. In the case study, three maxi-
F/C (1) to F/C (4) is the value except the power (
mum outputs, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 kW, are used. Figures
EW ) produced by wind power generation from
2 (a) - (c) show the power output when supplying
the power demand amount ( Ed ). Therefore, the the value decided at random between the maxi-
power balance equation of IPG is expressed with mum output from 0 to IPG through an inverter
Equation (1). The left-hand side of Equation (1) and a system interconnection device at sampling
represents each item in electric power supply, and time intervals. Here, Sampling time expresses
the right-hand side is the term for power demand. the time scale used in analysis, and Assumption
The supply-and-demand difference (Err) of the time expresses the time on the representative day
power is expressed with Equation (2). In this to be simulated. The sampling time interval was
system, F/C (1) is operated at base load, and when set to 0.333 s in Figure 2 and the case study. This
the value of Err exceeds capacity C f 1 of F/C (1), value corresponds to 1 minute in the Assumption
it starts operation of F/C (2). F/C (3) is operated time. Following Section describes the dynamic
when the power supply is insufficient compared characteristics of the inverter and system inter-
with the demand using this operation method. connection device. The proposed model of this
Thus, the number of operations of PEFC of F/C study assumes an apartment house in an urban
(1) - F/C (4) is controlled by the amount de- area. As a technique for reducing greenhouse gas
manded. discharge, planning to install a small-scale wind
turbine generator of several kilowatts in an urban
E f 1 + E f 2 + E f 3 + E f 4 + EW = Ed (1) area is considered. The model of this Section
whose wind power generation capacity is 3 kW
140
Figure 2. Output power models of the wind power generation
is not the optimal system from the viewpoint of ed with heat-insulating material, the operating
economy. However, the reduction of greenhouse temperature was changed from 288 K to 358 K, and
gases and the development of renewable energy the response characteristics of the cell stack were
are investigated. examined. The results of the measurement of the
response characteristics when applying step input
2. Power Generation Characteristics of a Fuel of 45 W to PEFC for a trial are shown in Figure
Cell 3 (b). The ambient temperature was maintained
Figure 3(a) shows the test equipment of the power at 293 K, and reformed gas and air were supplied
transient response characteristics of a fuel cell and underwent experiment in a cathode and an
stack. A fuel cell stack was installed and surround- anode, respectively. An approximated curve of
141
Figure 3. Response characteristics of equipment here
142
the dynamic characteristics of PEFC was created transfer function of the system interconnection
from the results of the measurement in Figure 3 device by the first-order lag is the value shown
(b), and the transfer function of the first-order lag in Figure 3 (d).
shown in the figure was obtained. Although the
transfer function is considered to be dependent on Analysis Method
the magnitude of the load, since this difference
was small in these test results, it is not taken into Solver Used for Analysis
consideration in the case study.
The dynamic characteristics of IPG are analyzed
3. Output Characteristics of a City Gas Re- using MATLAB (Ver.7.0) and Simulink (Ver.6.0)
former of Math Work Co. Ltd. The solver used by numeri-
Figure 3 (c) shows the results of measuring the cal calculation is the positive Runge-Kutta method,
relation between the load rate of a fuel cell, and and decided with 0.333 s in Figure 2, which de-
generation efficiency. Here, the ratio of maximum scribes the sampling time interval. Analysis error
production of electricity of a fuel cell to load is was managed within 0.01%.
defined as the load rate. The results of Figure 3
(c) are the characteristics of power generation ef- Step Response Analysis of F/C
ficiency when supplying reformed gas to a PEFC as
shown in Figure 3 (a), and further, taking inverter The response results of a step input of the power
efficiency into consideration. If the load rate of a load (1.0 kW and 2.7 kW) to F/C shown in Figure
fuel cell is decided, the generation efficiency of 1 (b) are shown in Figure 4. Since the response
each F/C shown in Figure 1 (b) is calculable from characteristics of a fuel cell system changes by
the characteristics of Figure 3 (c). The maximum the control parameters set up in the controller,
generation efficiency of each F/C is 32%. the PI control parameters have been changed and
analyzed in Figure 4. As for the steady-state er-
4. Inverter and System Interconnection Device ror of 1.0 kW of loads, P =1.0 and I =1.0 are the
The inverter is a voltage control type. A total of least. However, as for rising time, P =20.0 and I
120 ms is required to change the input power into =1.0 are the shortest. However, overshooting is
regular voltage and a regular frequency (less than large at P =20.0 and I =1.0. When a load is 2.7
95% of a targeted value) (Kyoto Denkiki, 2001). kW, compared with P =1.0 and I =1.0, the rising
The value that expresses the transfer function of time of P =20.0 and I =1.0 is short.
this inverter with the first-order lag is shown in
Figure 3 (d). When switching the power with a Determination of Step Response Error
system interconnection device, the switching time and Control Variables
is about 10 ms (Kyoto Denkiki, 2001). However,
since it is necessary to control to synchronize the Figure 5 shows the supply-and-demand errors of
frequency between the systems, the switching time the step response of F/C obtained by the numeri-
of the system interconnection device assumed cal simulation of Figure 4. The maximum of the
in this Section is set at 12 ms. As a result, the supply-and-demand error is decided by the mag-
143
Figure 4. Characteristics of F/C step response
144
Figure 5. Supply-and-demand difference of the step response of an F/C
145
nitude of a load inputted into F/C, and it is not Therefore, 5% of the zone is shown in Figure 6
dependent on the control variables. However, as (c). Frequency exceeding 5% of the Response/
for the additional value of a supply-and-demand Load increases as the range of load fluctuation
error, P =20.0 and I =1.0 are the least. Thus, in of Figure 6 (c) grows. From the result of Figure
the case study, considering the following char- 6 (c), the width of load fluctuation shows that the
acteristics and the supply-and-demand error of quality of the power up to about 10% is good.
load fluctuations, the PI control parameters of the The number of times that the supply-and-demand
controller of F/C (1) to F/C (4) is set as P =20.0 difference in the power exceeds 95% - 100% in the
and I =1.0, and is analyzed. results of Figure 6 (c) is 0 to 2 times in 2 seconds
at 10% of the load fluctuation range. Similarly,
Case Study in a load fluctuation range of 20%, it is 2 to 3
times in 2 seconds. However, the variation range
Step Response Characteristics of IPG of the supply-and-demand difference in the power
is 85% to 112%, when the load fluctuation range is
In this study, the rate (percentage) of the capac- 10%. Similarly, when the load fluctuation range
ity of the power generator equipment describes is 20%, it is 72% to 130%. The system average
load fluctuations. This is because the magnitude efficiency of each load fluctuation range is shown
of the inrush current of electric appliances has in Figure 6 (d) is less than 1% of the difference,
not been widely investigated. Figure 6 shows the when the value of each sampling time is added
analysis results of the response characteristics of and compared.
IPG when inputting a 10-kW load that has load
fluctuations into the IPG shown in Figure 1 (b). Dynamic Characteristics of IPG with
The input model shown in Figure 6 (a) was cre- Wind Power Generation
ated by adding random load fluctuations within
5%, 10%, and 20% to a 10-kW step input The 9-kW load with a load fluctuation range of
at 0.5-s sampling intervals. The 5%, 10%, 0%, 5%, 10%, and 20% is added to IPG. The
and 20% load fluctuations are simulating load power is supplied to IPG by the system shown in
fluctuations in 12 houses of an apartment house. Figure 1 (b). The power is supplied to the grid from
Figure 6 (b) shows the analysis results of a load the wind power generation of maximum output 1
response of IPG. In addition, Figure 6 (c) shows kW or 3 kW. Figure 7 shows the analysis results
the results of the supply-and-demand differences of the power supply-and-demand error of IPG at
of IPG. Figure 6 (d) shows the analysis results this time. The error range is so large that the load
of the average efficiency of the system. The ef- fluctuation range is large. Moreover, compared
ficiency of each F/C is added, and this value that with wind-generated power of 1 kW, with power
is divided by the number of F/C operations is of 3 kW, the error range is large. The frequency
defined as the average efficiency of the system. where the Error of Figure 7 (a) and (b) exceeds
Moreover, the efficiency of each F/C is calculable 5% increases as the load fluctuation grows. From
by giving the load rate of the fuel cell to Figure 3 the result of Figure 7 (a) and (b), load fluctuation
(c). Stable use of electric appliances requires 5% is about 5%, and the power quality is good. The
of power in the range of fluctuation of the voltage large load fluctuation of wind power generation
and frequency (standard of Japan). The microgrid affects the power quality (voltage, frequency) of
on the Response/Load shown in Figure 6 (c) the microgrid irrespective of the power demand
depends on the power quality (voltage, frequency). amount.
146
Figure 6. Response results when adding 10 kW load with fluctuations to a microgrid. P=20.0, I=1.0.
147
Figure 7. Supply-and-demand error of the microgrid at the time of 9 kW of loads with load fluctuations
and wind power generation
148
Figure 8 (a) shows the relation among the load Figure 6 and Figure 7, For example, wind power
fluctuation range, wind power generation, and generation of 3 kW, the maximum output, will be
average supply-and-demand error of power. Fig- connected to IPG, and 15% of load fluctuations
ure 9 (a) was created from the analysis results of will be added to the grid. The average supply-and-
Figure 8. Characteristics of wind power generation
149
Figure 9. Outside air temperature and average power consumption
demand error of power is less than 3% in this case relatively small. When the output of wind power
from Figure 8 (a). The characteristics of the aver- generation is large (Figure 8 (b) upper), the aver-
age supply-and-demand error of power in Figure age supply-and-demand error of power is less than
8 (a) depend on the range of the load fluctuation when the output of wind power generation is low
rather than the amount of wind power generation. (Figure 8 (b) lower). The dynamic characteristics
Moreover, each characteristic of the average of F/C can follow the output fluctuation of wind
supply-and-demand error of power is upward power generation. However, it is difficult for the
slanting to the right in the graph of Figure 8 (a). output control of F/C to follow with accuracy load
The main reasons are the rates of output of wind fluctuations for about 0.5 seconds or fewer. An
power generation, and the load fluctuation range. increase in the output of wind power generation
Thus, it is dependent on the rate (e f / EW ) of the will reduce the following error of load fluctuation.
output width ( EW ) of wind power generation and
Apartment House Model
the load fluctuation range (e f ), which are shown
in Figure 8 (b). If the value of is the same when The average temperatures in Sapporo for the
the output width of wind power generation is large, sampling time on representative days in Febru-
the average supply-and-demand error of power is ary, May and August are shown in Figure 9 (a)
150
(National Astronomical Observatory, 2003). shown in Figure 10 (b) are in good agreement, as
There is no cooling load of summer in Sapporo. Figure 10 (c) shows. However, if the load of IPG
Electricity demand includes that for household changes, overshooting and delay in rising will
appliances and electric lighting, and heat demand appear. On the other hand, as shown in Figure
comes from heating, hot water supply, and baths. 11 (c) and Figure 12 (c), there is fluctuation to
The average number of members in a household the power supply-and-demand difference in IPG.
is four persons. Figure 9 (b) shows the power The supply-and-demand difference in the power is
demand pattern at each time for the apartment greatly influenced by the load fluctuation range of
house composed of 12 houses, and used the IPG compared with the magnitude of the output
representative day in February and August in of wind power generation. This is the same reason
Sapporo in Japan (Narita, K., 1996). The reason as explained in Figure 8 (b).
for the few differences in the power demand of
both months is that the heating heat source of Number of Operations of F/C
winter (February) uses fossil fuel, and does not
use cooling in summer (August). Therefore, the The number of operations of F/C shown in Figure
power demand pattern of Figure 9 (b) expresses 10 (d) is two sets, F/C (1) and F/C (2), constantly.
the power mainly consumed by electric lights and In this case, the two sets, F/C (1) and F/C (2), cor-
household electric appliances. The power demand respond to the base load. On the other hand, Figure
pattern of the apartment house shown in Figure 11 (d) and Figure 12 (d) need to control each F/C
1 (a) is used as Figure 9 (b), and the dynamic at all times, in order to follow load fluctuations.
characteristics of the power when supplying power In the case of Figure 11 (d) and Figure 12 (d),
produced by wind power generation to IPG shown F/C (1) corresponds to the base load. Therefore,
in Figure 2 are analyzed using the block diagram the fuel cell capacity corresponding to the base
shown in Figure 1 (b). The efficiency of the fuel load of IPG differs according to the production
cell system is calculated using the load rate of a of electricity of wind power generation, as well
fuel cell as shown in Figure 3 (c). as load fluctuation range.
Results and Discussion Generation Efficiency
Response Characteristics of The average whole system efficiency shown by

Apartment House Model Figures 10 (e), 11 (e), and 12 (e) is 23 to 24%.
The average whole system efficiency does not
Figures 10, 11, and 12 show the system response depend on the load fluctuation range or the out-
characteristics of Figure 1 (a). The load fluctua- put of wind power generation. Figures 10 (i), 11
tion range of IPG and the wind power generation (i), and 12 (i) show the change in the efficiency
output are variables. (a) in each figure is the load of F/C (4). The operation of F/C (4) is a partial
model, and (b) is the response result. (c) is the load with low efficiency. Figure 9 (h), Figure 11
supply-and-demand difference in the power, (d) (h), and Figure 12 (h) show a change in the ef-
is the number of operations of F/C, and (e) is the ficiency of F/C (3). Highly efficient operation of
whole system efficiency. (f) to (i) expresses the F/C (3) is restricted to few periods, and most of
generation efficiency of F/C (1) to F/C (4). Figure the time, there is partial load operation with low
10 shows analysis results when load fluctuation efficiency. When the power generation capacity of
and wind power generation are zero. The rate of F/C per set is divided by increasing the installed
the load shown in Figure 10 and the response number of F/C and controlling the number of
151
Figure 10. Analysis results of 12-house apartment load model. Wind power generator is not installed.
Load fluctuations are zero.
operations, the load rate of all the F/C increases Conclusions

and the ranges of partial load operation with low
efficiency decrease. Therefore, if F/C is divided The operation conditions of an independent
into small capacity and the installed number is microgrid connected to renewable energy (wind
increased, it is predicted that the whole generation power generation) with unstable output was in-
efficiency will improve. The rise in facility costs vestigated by numerical analysis. Two or more
is compared with the reduction in energy cost due proton-exchange membrane fuel cells were con-
to efficiency improvement, and the capacity and nected to the grid, the number of operations was
the installed number of F/C needs to be designed. controlled, and a stable supply of power was at-
152
Figure 11. Analysis results of 12-house apartment load model. Wind power generator is 1 kW. Load
fluctuation is
tempted. As a result, it was found that the effect of wind power generation. Furthermore, the average
the characteristics of average supply-and-demand of supply-and-demand error of power is so small
error of power on the load fluctuation range is that the power supply by wind power generation is
greater than the output of wind power genera- large if the load fluctuation range of a grid is the
tion. This is because it is difficult to follow the same. This is because the rate of the load fluctua-
load fluctuation in a short time with accuracy, tion range will become low compared with wind
although the dynamic characteristics of the fuel power generation if the production of electricity
cell system can follow the output fluctuation of of wind power generation increases. In order to
153
Figure 12. Analysis results of 12-house apartment load model. Wind power generator is 2 kW. Load
fluctuation is
improve whole generation efficiency, it is effective POWER CHARACTERISTICS OF

to make the power generation capacity per fuel A FUEL CELL MICROGRID WITH
cell system small, and to increase the number of WIND POWER GENERATION
fuel cell systems installed. This is because the load
rate of all fuel cell systems rises and the ranges of Introduction
partial load operation with low efficiency decrease
in number. However, the improvement in genera- It is predicted that a microgrid technique is effec-
tion efficiency is compared with the rise in facility tive about a backup power supply in an emergency,
cost, and it is necessary to plan and design fuel a peak cut of power plants, and exhaust heat
cell capacity and the number installed. utilization. Furthermore, when renewable energy
154
is connected to a microgrid, there is potential to is considered as a power basis. The power (voltage
reduce the amount of greenhouse gas discharge and frequency) of the other fuel cells is controlled
(Abu-Sharkh et al., 2006; Carlos & Hernandez, to synchronize with this base power. Therefore, if
2005; Robert, 2004). A microgrid has an intercon- the fuel cell that outputs base power is unstable,
nection system with commercial power etc., and the power quality of the whole grid will deterio-
the independence supplying system of the power. rate. Fuel cells other than base load operation are
The microgrid with an interconnection system controlled to synchronize with the base power.
outputs and inputs the power between other grids. The power quality (voltage and frequency) of
Therefore, the dynamic characteristic of the grid is the microgrid depends on the difference in the
influenced by the grid of a connection destination. demand-and-supply balance.
When a microgrid and a large-scale grid such as A 2.5 kW fuel cell is installed in one house of
a commercial power system are interconnected, the microgrid formed from ten houses. This fuel
the dynamic characteristics of the power depend cell is operated corresponding to a base load. A
on the commercial power system. For this reason, 1 kW fuel cell is installed in seven houses, and
in the microgrid of the interconnection type, the a 1.5 kW wind power generator is connected to
option of the equipment to connect is wide. On the microgrid. According to the difference in
the other hand, since microgrid can reduce trans- electricity demand of the grid and power pro-
portation loss of power and heat, this technique duced by the wind power generator, the number
may become the major energy supply. The method of operations of 1 kW fuel cells is controlled. A
of connecting two or more small-scale fuel cells city gas reformer is installed in houses in which
and renewable energy equipment by a microgrid, fuel cells are installed, and hydrogen is produced
and supplying power to the demand side is effec- by city gas reforming. By adding random fluctua-
tive in respect of environmental problems. So, tion to an average power load pattern, the power
this section examines the independent microgrid demand of a general residence is simulated and
that connects fuel cells and wind power genera- it uses for analysis. The dynamic characteristics
tion. In order to follow load fluctuation with an of the microgrid and the efficiency of the system
independent grid system, there are a method of that are assumed in this chapter are investigated
installing a battery and a method of controlling by numerical analysis.
the output of power generators. Since the battery
is expensive, in this chapter, it corresponds to Microgrid Model
load fluctuation by controlling the power output
of the fuel cell. The output adjustment of the fuel Figure 13 shows the fuel cell independent mi-
cell has the method of controlling the production crogrid model investigated in this chapter. There
of electricity of each fuel cell, and the method of is a network of the power and city gas in this
controlling the number of operations of the fuel microgrid. Although a power network connects
cell. However, adjustment of the production of all houses, a city gas network connects houses in
electricity of each fuel cell connected to the mi- which a fuel cell is installed. The fuel cell installed
crogrid may operate some fuel cell with a partial in each house is a proton exchange membrane type
load with low efficiency. So, in this chapter, the (PEFC). The output of a 2.5kW fuel cell is decided
number of operations of fuel cells is controlled to be a base power of the microgrid. Moreover,
to follow fluctuations in the electricity demand. PEFC of 1 kW power is installed in seven houses.
In an independent microgrid, a certain fuel However, the fundamental dynamic characteristics
cell connected to the microgrid is chosen, and it of all the fuel cells are the same, and a fuel cell
155
Figure 13. Fuel cell microgrid system with wind power generator
and a city gas reformer are installed as a pair. One depending on the load factor, it is not taken into
set of wind power generator is installed, and the consideration because this difference is small by
power produced by wind force is supplied to a test results.
microgrid through an inverter and an interconnec-
tion device. The power supply of the microgrid Output Characteristics of City Gas
assumes 50-Hz of the single-phase 200 V. Reformer
Response Characteristic of System Figure 14 (b) shows the output model that input-
Configuration Equipment ted a load of 100% load factor into the city gas
reformer stepwise (Nagano, 2002; Obara & Kudo,
Power Generation 2005; Lindstrom & Petterson, 2003; Oda. 1999;
Characteristic of Fuel Cell Takeda, 2004; Ibe, 2002). An approximated curve
is prepared from the result of the measurement,
Figure 14 (a) shows the result of measurement and the transfer function of the primary delay
when inputting a load of 45 W into the testing of the city gas reformer is obtained. As a fuel
equipment of PEFC (maximum output 100 W) cell, although the transfer function of a city gas
stepwise. In the test, the ambient temperature reformer influences the magnitude of the load
was set to 293 K, and reformed gas and air were significantly, since there is no large difference,
supplied to an anode and a cathode, respectively. the result of Figure 14 (b) is used. Compared
An approximated curve is prepared from the re- with the condition of the steady operation of the
sult of the measurement in Figure 14 (a), and the reformer, the characteristics of a startup and a
transfer function of a primary delay is obtained. shutdown differ greatly. Cold start operation and
Strictly, although a transfer function is considered shutdown operation require about 20 minutes,
156
Figure 14. Response characteristics of system configuration equipment (Oda 1999, Takeda 2004, Ibe 2002)
respectively. In the analysis of this chapter, it is Generation Efficiency of the Fuel Cell
assumed that the startup of the methanol reformer System
is always a hot start.
Figure 16 shows a model of the relation between
Power Generation Characteristics the load factor of a fuel cell, and generation ef-
of Wind Power Generation ficiency (Obara and Kudo, 2005, 2005). Power-
generation efficiency is obtained by dividing the
The model of power obtained by wind power gen- power output of the fuel cell system by the city
eration is decided at random between 0 to 1.5 kW gas calorific power supplied to the system. This
for every sampling time, as shown in Figure 15 (a). model was prepared from the results of the power
The power of wind power generator is supplied output when attaching the fuel cell show in Figure
to a microgrid through an inverter and a system 14 (a) to the city gas reformer show in Figure 14
interconnection device. Figure 15 (b) shows the (b). If the load of a fuel cell is given to Figure
output model of the wind power generator through 16, power generation efficiency is calculable.
an inverter and a system-interconnection device. The maximum efficiency of one set of a fuel cell
Because influence is taken in the dynamic charac- system is 32%.
teristic of an inverter and a system-interconnection
device, the output of wind power generation is Inverter and System Interconnection
settled on a width of 0.75kW0.25kW range, as Device
shown in Figure 15 (b). The details of the transfer
function of an inverter and a system intercon- It is assumed that an inverter of a voltage control
nection device are given with later section. The type is used, and 120 ms is required to output
dynamic characteristics of the inverter and system power on regular voltage and frequency (in this
interconnection device significantly influence chapter, it is less than 95%) (Kyoto Denkiki Co.,
the power output characteristics of wind power Ltd. 2001). Figure 17 (a) expresses the transfer
generation. function of such an inverter with primary delay.
157
Figure 15. Output model of wind power generator
Figure 16. Output characteristics of a PEFC with city-gas reformer
Figure 17. Transfer function of an inverter and interconnection device
158
When changing power with a system intercon- kW step input, the rising time and settling time
nection device, the change takes about 10 s (time to converge on 5% of the target output)
(Kyoto Denkiki Co., Ltd. 2001). However, there are not based on control parameters. In 0.2kW
is the operation of taking the synchronism of the step input, the rise time of P = 12.0, I = 1.0
frequency between systems, and the model of the is short, and the settling time of P = 1.0, I =
system interconnection device sets the change 1.0 is short. In 0.6 kW step input, P = 12.0, I
time to 12 ms. As a result, the transfer function = 1.0, and P = 1.0, I = 1.0 have almost the
of the system interconnection device by primary same settling time. Moreover, overshooting is
delay is shown Figure 17 (b). large although the rise time of P = 12.0, I = 1.0
is short. Considering the following load fluctua-
Control Parameters and tions, the control parameters of the fuel cell are
Analysis Method analyzed by P = 12.0, I = 1.0. The dynamic
characteristics of a microgrid are analyzed using
The response characteristics of the 1 kW fuel MATLAB (Ver.7.0) and Simulink (Ver.6.0) of
cell system when inputting 0.2, 0.6, and a 1.0 Math Work Corporation. However, in analysis,
kW load stepwise is shown in Figure 18. The the solver to be used is the positive Runge-Kutta
response characteristics of a fuel cell system system, and this determines the sampling time
changes by the control parameters set up with from calculation converged to less than 0.01%
the controller. As shown in Figure 18 (c), in 1 by error.
Figure 18. Characteristics of electric power output of the system (Obara 2005)
159
Load Response Characteristics of maximum power due to over shoot is described

the Microgrid in the right-hand side figure. The settling time
when not installing a wind power generator has
Step Response the longest period of step input of 6 kW and 8
kW for 3.9 seconds. If a wind power generator
The response results when applying the stepwise is connected to the microgrid, many fluctuations
input of 2, 4, 6 or 8 kW to the microgrid at intervals in the system response characteristics will occur
of 30 seconds are shown in Figure 19 (a). The left- in a short period. If the power produced by wind
hand side in Figure 19 (a) shows the result of not power generation is supplied to the microgrid, the
installing a wind power generator. The right-hand dynamic characteristics of power of the microgrid
side of the figure shows the result of a installing will be influenced. Figure 19 (b) shows the analysis
wind power generator. The maximum power by a result of the response error corresponding to Figure
overshooting and settling time (time to converge 19 (a). If wind power generator is connected to
on 5% of the target output) are described on the grid, the response error will become large as
the left-hand of Figure 19 (a). Moreover, the the load of the grid becomes small. It is expected
Figure 19. Results of step response
160
that the power range of the fluctuation of the As a base load of the power demand pattern shown
microgrid will increase as the output of the wind in Figure 20 (a), F/C (0) is considered as opera-
power generation grows. Therefore, when the load tion of 2.5 kW constant load. Figure 20 (b) and
of a microgrid is small compared with the output (c) are the power demand patterns when adding
of wind power generator, the power supply of the load fluctuations (1 kW and 3 kW) to Figure
independent microgrid becomes unstable. 20 (a) at random. The variation of the load was
decided at random within the limits of the range
Load Response Characteristics of Cold of fluctuation for every sampling time.
Region Houses Figure 21 shows the response results of F/C
(0) to F/C (6) when wind power generation is
Figure 20 (a) shows the power demand pattern of connected to the microgrid and the power load
a microgrid formed from ten individual houses in has 1 kW fluctuations. F/C (0) assumed opera-
Sapporo in Japan, and assumes a representative day tion with 2.5 kW constant output, with the result
in February (Narita, 1996). This power demand that the response of F/C (0) is much less than 2.5
pattern is the average value of each hour, and the kW in less than the sampling time of 100 s as
sampling time of analyses and the assumption shown in Figure 21 (a). This reason is because
time are written together on the horizontal axis. F/C (0) was less than 2.5kW with the power of
Figure 20. 480s demand model for 10 houses in February in Sapporo
161
Figure 21. Response results of each fuel cell
wind power generation. Although the microgrid ficiency. The average power generation efficiency
assumed in this chapter controlled the number of of Figure 22 (a) is 13.4%, and Figure 22 (b) shows
operations of F/C (1) to F/C (7) depending on the 14.3%. The difference in average efficiency occurs
magnitude of the load, since the power supply of in the operating point of a fuel cell system shifting
wind power generation existed, there was no to the efficient side, when load fluctuations are
operating time of F/C (7). added to the microgrid. Thus, if load fluctuations
are added to the microgrid, compared with no load
Power Generation Efficiency fluctuations, the load factor of the fuel cell system
shown in Figure 16 will increase.
Figure 22 shows the analysis results of the average Figure 23 shows the power generation effi-
power generation efficiency of fuel cell systems ciency of each fuel cell in the case of connecting
for every sampling time. The average efficiency wind power generation to the microgrid of 1.0kW
of a fuel cell system is the value averaging the of load fluctuation. F/C (0) operated correspond-
efficiency of F/C (0) to F/C (7) operated at each ing to a base load has maximum power generation
sampling time. However, the fuel cell system to efficiency at all sampling times. Since the number
stop is not included in average power generation ef- of operations of a fuel cell is controlled by the
162
Figure 22. Results of microgrid average efficiency
Figure 23. Results of efficiency for each fuel cell
163
magnitude of the load added to the microgrid, the Alibhai, Z., Lum, R., Huster, A., Gruver, W. A., &
operating time falls in the order of F/C (1) to F/C Kotak, D. B. (2004). Coordination of distributed
(6). Moreover, there is no time to operate F/C (7) energy resources, Systems, man and cybernet-
in this operating condition. ics. In H. G. Stassen (Ed.), IEEE International
Conference on Vo. 2, Hague, Netherlands, (pp.
Conclusions 1990-1995).
Carlos, A., & Hernandez, A. (2005). Fuel con-
A 2.5 kW fuel cell was installed in a house linked to
sumption minimization of a microgrid. IEEE
a microgrid, operation corresponding to a base load
Transactions on Industry Applications, 41(3),
was conducted, and the dynamic characteristics of
673681. doi:10.1109/TIA.2005.847277
the grid when installing a 1 kW fuel cell system
in seven houses were investigated by numerical Ibe, S., Shinke, N., Takami, S., Yasuda, Y., Asatsu,
analysis. A wind power generator outputted to a H., & Echigo, M. (2002). Development of fuel
microgrid at random within 1.5 kW was installed, processor for residential fuel cell cogeneration
and the following conclusions were obtained. system. In K. Abe (Ed.), Proc. 21th Annual Meet-
ing of Japan Society of Energy and Resources,
1. Although the settling time (time to converge Osaka, (pp. 493-496).In Japanese.
on 5% of the target output) of the microgrid
Kyoto Denkiki Co., Ltd. (2001). A system con-
differs with the magnitude of the load, and
nection inverter catalog and an examination
the parameters of the controller, it is about
data sheet.
4 seconds.
2. When connecting a wind power generator to Lindstrom, B., & Petterson, L. (2003). Develop-
the microgrid, the instability of the power ment of a methanol fuelled reformer for fuel cell
of the grid due to supply-and-demand dif- applications. Journal of Power Sources, 118,
ference is an issue. This issue is remarkable 7178.
when the load of an independent microgrid
Nagano, S. (2002). Plate-type methanol steam
is small compared to the production of elec-
reformer using new catalytic combustion for a
tricity of unstable wind power generation.
fuel cell. In Proceedings of SAE Technical Paper
3. When wind power equipment is connected
Series (Automotive Eng. 10).
to the microgrid with load fluctuation, the
operating point of the fuel cell system may Narita, K. (1996). The research on unused energy
shift and power generation efficiency may of the cold region city and utilization for the dis-
improve. trict heat and cooling (Ph.D. thesis). Hokkaido
University, Japan. In Japanese.
National Astronomical Observatory. (2003). Rika
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UK energy supply? Renewable & Sustainable in consideration of load response characteristics
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scale fuel cell cogeneration system with methanol (2004). Development of fuel processor for rapid
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165
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
Act: If action
Act_FC: Each fuel cell operation
C fn : Instantaneous power capacity of F/C (n) [kW]
CW : Instantaneous wind power capacity [kW]
Ed : Power demand [kW]
E fn : Power production by F/C (n) [kW]
Err : Error [kW]
EW : Wind power [kW]
e f : Load fluctuation range [kW]
F/C: fuel cell system (consists of a controller, a fuel cell, an inverter and an interconnection
device)
h : Input
h : Capacity of generation [W]
I : Integral parameter
I/C: Interconnection device
P : Proportionality parameter
PI: Proportion-integration control
u: Power load of a microgrid [W]
: Power output [W]
W/P: Wind power generation system (consists of controller, wind power generator, inverter and
interconnection device)
166
167
Chapter 6
Compound Microgrid of
City-Gas Engine and Proton
Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Amount of CO2 Discharged from Compound Microgrid of
Hydrogenation City-Gas Engine and Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell and Power Characteristics
of a Fuel Cell Microgrid with Wind Power Generation. In the 1st section, a microgrid composed from
a PEFC and a hydrogenation city gas engine is investigated using numerical simulation. The system
which combined base-load operation of PEFC and load fluctuation operation of hydrogenation city
gas engine is the most advantageous. The independent PEFC power supply system relating to hydrogen
energy is investigated in the 2nd section. The hybrid cogeneration system (HCGS) that uses a PEFC and
a hydrogen mixture gas engine (NEG) together to improve power generation efficiency during partial
load of fuel cell cogeneration is proposed.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION responding to a load peak is installed, equipment

cost will be high and energy cost will not be able
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. to get any profile commercially. By increasing the
The independent microgrid is considered to be a hydrogen concentration at the time of low load, the
technology in which maximum distributed energy power-generation efficiency of a city-gas-engine-
is realizable. However, there are many subjects, generator improves, and carbon dioxide emissions
such as the stability of the dynamic characteristics decrease. So, in this study, a microgrid composed
of power and development of an optimal design from a PEFC and a hydrogenation city gas engine
method. If the fuel cell system of the capacity cor- was investigated using numerical simulation. The
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch006
Compound Microgrid of City-Gas Engine and Proton Exchange Membrane
system with a small load factor of NEG and with pacity of PEFC and that of NEG are investigated,
a large load factor of PEFC system has few CO2 as well as the power generation efficiency, carbon
emissions. The system which combined base-load dioxide emissions and the optimal capacity of a
operation of PEFC and load fluctuation opera- boiler and heat storage tank. Analysis revealed that
tion of hydrogenation city gas engine is the most the annual average power generation efficiency
advantageous for the comprehensive evaluation when the capacity of PEFC and NEG is 5 kW
of equipment cost, power generation efficiency, was 27.3%. Meanwhile, the annual average power
and CO2 emissions. When the optimal system was generation efficiency of HCGS is 1.37 times that
installed into the urban area model of 20 build- of the PEFC independent system, and 1.28 times
ings and analyzed, power generation efficiency that of the NEG independent system respectively.
was 25% and CO2 emissions were 1,106 kg/Day.
The summary of the 2nd section is as follows.
Development of a small-scale power source not AMOUNT OF CO2 DISCHARGED
dependent on commercial power may result in FROM COMPOUND MICROGRID
various effects. For example, it may eliminate OF HYDROGENATION CITY-GAS
the need for long distance power-transmission ENGINE AND PROTON EXCHANGE
lines, and mean that the amount of green energy MEMBRANE FUEL CELL
development is not restricted to the dynamic char-
acteristics of a commercial power grid. Moreover, Introduction
the distribution of the independent energy source
can be optimized with regionality in mind. This The introduction to a urban area of a microgrid has
study examines the independent power supply the following advantages: (a) The heat transport
system relating to hydrogen energy. Generally distance is short and effective use of the exhaust
speaking, the power demand of a house tends to heat of the generating equipment is possible; (b)
fluctuate considerably over the course of a day. The optimal facility for the energy demand char-
Therefore, when introducing fuel cell cogenera- acteristic of a community is installed, and a system
tion into an apartment house, etc., low-efficiency having small environmental impact can be built;
operations in a low-load region occur frequently in and (c) With an independent microgrid, the scale
accordance with load fluctuation. Consequently, of equipment for distributing electricity is small
the hybrid cogeneration system (HCGS) that uses (Robert et al., 2004; Carlos & Hernandez, 2005;
a PEFC and a hydrogen mixture gas engine (NEG) Takuma & Goda, 2005). Furthermore, (d) Con-
together to improve power generation efficiency necting renewable energy considering regionality
during partial load of fuel cell cogeneration is is expected as an advanced system in microgrid
proposed. However, since facility costs increase, technology. At present, the method of a microgrid
if the HCGS energy cost is not low compared with interconnecting with commercial power, etc. is
the conventional method, it is disadvantageous. investigated (interconnect microgrid) (Takuma
Therefore, in this section, HCGS is introduced into & Goda, 2005). However, in order to achieve the
10 household apartments in Tokyo, and the power advantages of (a) to (d) described above, it is nec-
generation efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions essary to operate a microgrid independently. The
and optimal capacity of a boiler and heat storage subjects of the independent microgrid are backup
tank are investigated through analysis. Moreover, in the case of overload, and securing power quality
the system characteristics change significantly (voltage and frequency). Furthermore, it is neces-
based on the capacity of PEFC and NEG that sary to clarify the power-generation efficiency,
compose HCGS. Therefore, in this study, the ca- the carbon dioxide emissions, and the power
168
cost of an independent microgrid. An improve- load region, and the system that compounds NEG
ment in power-generation efficiency is expected and PEFC is examined. Below, the independent
from the independent microgrid using a fuel cell microgrid that compounds NEG and PEFC system
compared with conventional electric power-supply is described as IMPE.
technology. However, for the moment, fuel cells
are expensive, and whether they will spread is not System Scheme
clear. As for a fuel cell independent microgrid,
power-generation efficiency and carbon diox- IMPE Model
ide emissions are expected to be advantageous
compared with existing generating equipment. A microgrid model is shown in Figure 1. Figure
However, because the fuel cell is expensive, it 1 (a) shows a system-interconnection microgrid.
is difficult to install the capacity corresponding This system is interconnected with commercial
to a load peak. Consequently, there is a case of power, etc. Power Pc is delivered and received
operation which limits operation of a fuel cell to between other grids, and Power Pg is supplied to
a highly efficient load region (Society of Living
a microgrid with the generating equipment in-
Amenity, 2006). The hydrogenation technology of
stalled in the machinery room of Building 5 in
a city gas engine is effective concerning efficiency
the urban area model of Figure 1 (a). The power
falls and increases in carbon dioxide emissions at
quality (frequency, voltage) of the system-inter-
the time of partial load (Mohammadi et al., 2005;
connection microgrid is dependent on other grids
Yap et al., 2004; Larsen & Wallace, 1995; Swain
for interconnection. Therefore, even if a large load
& Usuf, 1993.). The power-generation system
is added to this grid, power quality is stabilized
using a city gas engine with generator (NEG) is
in a short time. On the other hand, Figure 1 (b)
cheap compared with the fuel cell. So, this Section
shows an independent microgrid that does not
examines the power-generation efficiency and
interconnect with other grid systems. The method
the carbon dioxide emissions when connecting
that supplies the power of an independent mi-
NEG and the proton exchange membrane fuel
crogrid by a one-set power-generation system is
cell (PEFC) to an independent microgrid. In this
defined as a centralized system. Two sets of NEG
Section, the load of an independent microgrid is
or PEFC system are introduced, and how to divide
divided into a base-load region and a fluctuating-
Figure 1. Micro-grid model
169
into base-load operation and fluctuating-load Equipment Scheme

operation, and supply power is defined as a base
load-sharing system. However, the base load- Figure 3 shows an example of equipment schemes
sharing system corresponds to a base load and of the building connected to IMPE shown in
fluctuating load using either FC or NEG. For Figure 1 (b). Figure 3 (a) shows the equipment
example, how to correspond base-load operation scheme of Building m linked to an NEG central
by NEG and correspond to fluctuating-load op- system. The generating equipment installed with
eration by PEFC system is defined as an IMPE a centralized system is any one set of FC or NEG.
system. By the IMPE system, the kinds of gener- Figure 3 (a) shows the equipment scheme of the
ating equipment of base-load operation and central system using NEG, where NEG, a boiler,
fluctuating-load operation differ. a heat storage tank, an interconnection device,
etc. are installed. Although city gas (QE ) is sup-
Operation Method of the Microgrid plied to NEG, at the time of low load, hydrogen
(QEr ) is supplied through reformed gas piping.
Figure 2 shows the power load pattern of the in- However, equipment cost can also be reduced by
dependent microgrid shown in Figure 1 (b). The installing a city gas reformer in the same building,
load pattern of Figure 1 (b) is separated into a m , as NEG. NEG and PEFC system are installed
base-load region and a fluctuating-load region in in Building l , and the equipment scheme of the
systems other than the centralized system. As IMPE system corresponding to base load or fluc-
Figure 1 (b) shows, PEFC system of Capacity PF ,l tuating load is shown in Figure 3 (b). The hydro-
is installed in Building 5 linked to Grid A, and gen produced by the reformer is supplied to NEG
NEG of Capacity PE ,m is installed in Building 19 at the time of low load, and PEFC stack. NEG,
linked to Grid B. Grid A and Grid B can deliver PEFC stack, a city gas reformer, a boiler, a heat
and receive the power by system interconnection storage tank, an interconnection device, etc. are
equipment CP. Therefore, PEFC system of Build- installed in the building shown in Figure 3 (b).
ing 5 is made to correspond to the base-load region City gas (QS ) is a heat source, and city gas (QR )
of Figure 2, and NEG of Building 19 is made to produces reformed gas with the fuel for reforming.
correspond to a fluctuating-load region. Furthermore, in order to reduce the CO concentra-
tion in the reformed gas in a fuel cell stack entrance
Figure 2. Output share model of load power to several ppm, a carbon monoxide oxidization
Section is provided. In the carbon monoxide
oxidation Section, carbon monoxide is burned on
a catalyst and it changes into carbon dioxide. The
direct current power generated by the fuel cell
stack is changed into an alternating current of
fixed frequency through an inverter, and is sup-
plied to an interconnection device. Figure 3 (c)
shows the equipment scheme of Building n in
which NEG or PEFC system is not installed. The
power demand of Building n is received from a
microgrid through an interconnection device.
170
Figure 3. Energy equipment model
Moreover, heat supply is obtained by city gas ( al., 2005). The engine mean effective pressure of
QB ) burning of a boiler. Carbon dioxide emissions hydrogenation is effective in a range that is less
are calculated from the city gas supplied to a than 0.8 MPa. Thermal efficiency with a mean
reformer (QR and QS ) and NEG (QE ). effective pressure large without hydrogenation
in a range exceeding 0.8 MPa can be obtained.
Equipment Characteristics Figure 4 (b) shows the relation between the mean
effective pressure and brake thermal efficiency,
Output Characteristics of Gas and the hydrogenation rate (Mohammadi et al.,
Engine Power Generator 2005). The broken line shown in this figure is
the hydrogenation rate indicating the maximum
Figure 4 (a) shows the examination results of the thermal efficiency. Figure 4 (c) shows the analysis
hydrogenation rate and brake thermal efficiency results of the production of electricity of NEG,
of a one-cylinder city gas engine (Mohammadi et city gas consumption, and the amount of hydro-
171
Figure 4. Output characteristics of NEG
genation calculated from the model of Figs 4 (a) as the PEFC system described below. Detail of
and (b). The amount of hydrogenation of Figure reformer efficiency is given by following Section.
4 (c) is the result when obtaining the maximum Figure 5 (a) shows the relation between carbon
thermal efficiency. The specifications of a city dioxide emissions and the production of electric-
gas engine and a power generator are shown in ity of NEG and engine hydrogenation. This
Tables 1 (a) and (b). Hydrogen consumption is model was calculated from the characteristics of
zero when the production of electricity exceeds the thermal efficiency described in Figure 4, and
14 kW as shown in Figure 4 (c). This is because the equations (from Equation (1) to Equation (3))
high thermal efficiency can be obtained even if described below. The fuel supplied to NEG has
there is no hydrogenation in the large range of many hydrogen rates in a low-load region, and
engine power, as Figure 4 (a) describes. Figure there are many rates of city gas in a high-load
4 (d) shows the relation of the production of region. Therefore, there are many rates of carbon
electricity and generation efficiency of NEG. dioxide discharged with a reforming reaction and
Although reformed gas is supplied to NEG, the a reformer burner in a low-load region, and there
generation efficiency of Figure 4 (d) includes are many rates of carbon dioxide discharged by
reformer efficiency. The reformer is as common engine burning of city gas in a high-load region.
172
Table 1. Specifications of NEG
Figure 5 .CO2 emission characteristics of NEG
Figure 5 (b) shows the model of a load factor and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of NEG
CO2 emissions calculated from Figure 5 (a). In
Region A in this figure, NEG is mainly operated Equation (1) is a steam-reforming reaction equa-
using reforming gas. In this region, CO2 emissions tion of city gas (CH4). Since Equation (1) is an
decrease slightly with the rise of a load factor. It endothermic reaction, the heat for advancing the
is because reformer efficiency will improve when response of Equation (1) is produced using the
a load factor rises as described in following Sec- combustion reaction of CH4 shown in Equation (2).
tion and Figure 6. Moreover, Equation (3) is an equation that changes
Figure 6. Output characteristics of PEM-FC system
173
the carbon monoxide of Equation (1) into carbon is the power in the inverter outlet of a PEFC sys-
dioxide and hydrogen. If the hydrogen quantity tem. QR,F ,t expresses the calorific power of CH4
supplied to NEG and PEFC stack is decided, the for reforming, and QS ,F ,t expresses the calorific
amount of city gas supplied to a reformer and the
power of CH4 supplied to a heat-source burner.
carbon dioxide to be discharged are calculable us-
The maximum generation efficiency of the fuel
ing Equations (1), (2), and (3). The CH4 quantity
cell shown in Figure 6 is 31%. Moreover, the
supplied to an engine is calculable using Equations
reformer efficiency in Figure 6 (a) improves with
(2), Figure 4 (a), and Figure 4 (b).
the increase in a load factor. Figure 6 (b) shows
the CO2 emissions of the PEFC system. Figure 6
CH 4 + H 2O CO + 3H 2 206 [kJ / mol ]
(b) shows the result of calculating based on the
(1) power-generation efficiency and reformer effi-
ciency in Figure 6 (a). At the time of the hydrogen
CH 4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H 2O + 802 [kJ / mol ] supply to PEFC stack, the amount of CO2 dis-
(2) charged by a reforming reaction is expressed with
GR,F ,t , and the quantity discharged by a heat-
CO + H 2O CO2 + H 2 + 41 [kJ / mol ] source burner is expressed with GS ,F ,t . Therefore,
(3)
the amount GF ,t of CO2 discharged by the gen-
Equation (4) expresses the amount of carbon eration of PEFC system is calculated by Equation
dioxide discharged by NEG. GE ,p,t is the carbon (6).
dioxide emissions when burning CH4 with Engine E

p . GR,p,t is the amount of carbon dioxide dis-
F ,t = F ,t 100 (5)
charged by a reforming reaction required for engine

(QR ,F ,t
+ QS ,F ,t )

hydrogenation. GS ,p,t is the carbon dioxide emis-
sions of a heat-source burner. N R is the installed GF ,t =GR,F ,t + GS ,F ,t (6)
number of NEG, and in the NEG centralized
system and a NEG base-load IMPE system, it is As Figure 5 (b) shows, there are many CO2
one set, and is two sets in the NEG base load- emissions of NEG in a high-load zone, but there
sharing system. are many CO2 emissions of a fuel cell in a low-load
zone (Figure 6 (b)). From the difference in CO2
NE
emission characteristics, NEG is advantageous in
GNEG ,t = (GE ,p,t + GR,p,t + GS ,p,t ) (4)
p =1
the operation of a partial load, and PEFC system
is advantageous in steady operation at high load.
PEFC System Case Study

Figure 6 shows the model of the generation ef- Urban Area Model
ficiency of PEFC system and city gas reformer
efficiency (Yasuda, 2005). Moreover, generation The urban area model analyzed in this Section is
efficiency F of Figure 6 (a) was calculated using shown in Figure 7. The building number is shown
Equation (5). When the sampling time is expressed in this figure and the application for each building
with t , E F ,t of Equation (5), the right-hand side is shown in Table 2. The number of buildings of an
174
Figure 7. Urban area model

hand, the power demand of the small offices of
Figure8 (g) and the factories of Figure 8 (h) is
regular and easy to predict. The power demand
pattern of a house has a peak in the morning and
the afternoon. When midnight to early morning
is excluded, hotels (Figure 8 (e)) have the stable
demand, and convenience stores (Figure 8 (f)) have
24-hour power demand. In small offices (Figure
8 (g)), factories (Figure 8 (h)), and small hospi-
tals (Figure 8 (i)), there is little power demand at
night to early morning, and there is much power
demand from morning till the evening. In Case
Study, the CO2 emissions of August representa-
urban area model is 20. The urban area model can tion days which are the largest power demand are
consider various patterns. This Section examines calculated. Figure 9 shows the heat demand model
the characteristics of the carbon dioxide emissions in August of each building described in the top
of the compound grid of NEG and PEFC system (Architectural Institute of Japan, 2002; Nagase et
from the case of Figure 7. al., 2003; Hatano et al., 2003; Yoshinaga et al.,
2003). However, in a convenience store, office,
Power Demand Model and a factory, because heat pump is introduced,
heat demand is not taken into consideration.
Figure 8 shows the power demand model of each
building in Tokyo, and is the mean power load Analysis Flow
of each sampling time of a representative day in
January (winter), May (mid-term), and August The analysis flow of the centralized system, base
(summer) (Architectural Institute of Japan, 2002; load-sharing system, and IMPE system is shown
Nagase et al., 2003; Hatano et al., 2003; Yoshinaga in Figure 10. First, the power demand data of
et al., 2003). However, the actual power demand each building are given to the analysis program,
pattern is an assembly of the load that changes and the base load of the whole microgrid is cal-
rapidly in a short time, such as an inrush current. culated. Next, the power plant capacity installed
A power demand estimate of the house shown into a microgrid is given, and power generation
in Figures 8 (a) to 8 (d) is difficult. On the other efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions are cal-
culated for every sampling time concerning all
the grid routes of an urban area model. By adding
Table 2. Power demand model for urban area these all, the total power generation efficiency and
the total carbon dioxide emissions in the opera-
tion period, and the capacity of a power plant are
determined. The load factor is calculated from the
capacity and power load of a power plant. A load
factor is given to the approximation of Figures 4
(d) or Figure 6, and power generation efficiency
is determined. The carbon dioxide emissions of
a system are calculated by giving a load factor to
the approximation of Figures 5 or 6.
175
Figure 8. Power demand models
176
Figure 9. Heat demand models in August
Figure 10. Calculation flow

Power Load of Microgrid
Figure 11 (a) shows the result of the power load

pattern of a representative day in August of the
urban area model. As the result of time change of
power demand, Figure 11 (a) shows that the power
plant capacity of a fluctuating load is 100 kW, and
the power plant capacity of a base load is 66 kW.
Figure 11 (b) shows the result of the rate of a base
load and a fluctuating load. The base load is 1.32
times larger. Figure 11 (c) shows the composition
of the power demand added to a microgrid. The
largest load component is convenience stores
(two buildings), which takes 36% of the whole
load. Because there is 24 hour power demand
in convenience stores (Figure 8 (f)) and hotels
(Figure 8 (e)), it is a component that smoothes
the whole load added to the microgrid. Factories
and small offices of the ratio of the whole load
are large. However, the demand difference in the
day and at night is large, and is a component to
which the fluctuating load region of a microgrid
is made to increase.
Capacity of Power Plant
The analysis results of a representative day in

August are shown in Figure 12. Figure 12 (a)
shows the results of the capacity of the power
plant installed in each microgrid system. to
in Figure 7-1 expresses the power supply method
177
Figure 11. Results of the load pattern in May representative day
described in the figure. In a centralized system power-generation efficiency of the system of to

( and ), one set of 166 kW power plant is con- except for the centralized system. In FC base-
nected to a microgrid. On the other hand, in the load operation, it can operate at the maximum
base load-sharing system ( and ) and IMPE power-generation efficiency shown in Figure 6
system ( and ), the power plant capacity cor- (a). The maximum power-generation efficiency
responding to a base load and load fluctuation is of PEFC system is higher than the efficiency of
66 kW and 100 kW, respectively. NEG shown in Figure 4 (d). Therefore, the total
power generation efficiency of the system of ,
Power Generation Efficiency , and using FC to base-load operation is high.
Figure 12 (b) shows the analysis results of the Carbon Dioxide Emissions
total power generation efficiency of the system
of to . Total power generation efficiency is Figure 12 (d) shows the analysis result of the
high at , , and . Most these systems are a amount of carbon dioxide discharged from each
method of corresponding to base-load operation system. and have few CO2 emissions and these
by FC. Figure 12 (c) shows the distribution of the are PEFC system base load operations. Moreover,
178
Figure 12. Analysis results
(NEG base load and FC load fluctuation opera- PEFC system is large and the load factor of NEG
tion) also has few CO2 emissions. When Figure is small, CO2 emissions will decrease. Therefore,
5 (b) is compared with Figure 6 (b), the change there are few CO2 emissions of and . Although
in CO2 emissions to change of a load factor has is NEG base load operation, because it corre-
NEG larger than PEFC system. As Figure 5 (b) sponds to load fluctuation by large capacity PEFC
and Figure 6 (b) showed, when the load factor of system (100kW), there are few CO2 emissions
179
than the system composed only from NEG ( and the CO2 emissions of the system of and differ
). in Figure 12 (d) is CO2 emissions of NEG greatly, it depends for CO2 emissions to a power
without hydrogenation. When the hydrogenation load factor strongly.
of NEG is introduced, compared with the method
which does not add hydrogen, about 15% of CO2 Heat Demand and Exhaust Heat Output
emissions will reduce. After all, the order with
few CO2 emissions is , , , , , , and . Figure 13 shows the analysis result of the exhaust
The order ( and , , , and ) of the power- heat output of August representation days of base
generation efficiency described in the top differs load operation and load fluctuation operation of
from this order. Furthermore, when facility cost each system. The exhaust heat of each system of
is taken into consideration, the smallest possible to exceeds the heat amount demanded of the
system of fuel cell capacity is advantageous. urban area model in Figure 7, as shown in Figure
Power-generation efficiency is high, there are few 13. When an exhaust heat network is introduced
CO2 emissions, and a system with cheap facility into a microgrid and exhaust heat is distributed to
cost is the best. Therefore, system is proposed each building, the boiler shown in Figure 2 will
in this Section. become unnecessary.
The energy supply by commercial power and
a kerosene boiler is defined as the conventional Conclusions
method. The amount of greenhouse gas discharge
of the conventional system is able to calculate Compared with the present power supply method,
based on the investigative commission report of power-generation efficiency may improve and
the calculation method of the amount of green- carbon dioxide emissions may decrease in inde-
house gas discharge (the Ministry of Environment pendent microgrids using a fuel cell. However,
in Japan, August, 2003). The commercial power if a fuel cell microgrid is introduced into a urban
of a greenhouse gas discharge factor is 0.331 kg- area with great load fluctuation, it becomes a very
CO2/kWh, and a kerosene boiler is set up at 0.0685 expensive facility now. So, this Section examined
kg-CO2/MJ, 9.5 kg-CH4/TJ, and 0.57 kg-N2O/TJ. the independent microgrid of most August repre-
As a result, as shown in Figure 12 (d), the CO2 sentation days of power demand that introduce a
emissions of system decrease rather than the hydrogenation city gas engine and PEFC system,
conventional method slightly. Moreover, because and are operated. The following Conclusions were
Figure 13. Heat demand and exhaust heat output in August representative day
180
obtained as a result of installing this system into CAPACITY OPTIMIZATION OF PEFCL

an urban area model composed from the power AND HYDROGEN MIXING GAS-
load patterns of 20 buildings, such as houses, of- ENGINE COMPOUND GENERATOR
fices, and hospitals.
Introduction
1. The total power generation efficiency of
centralization system, base-load sharing Cogeneration using a proton-exchange membrane
system, IMPE system using PEFC and NEG fuel cell (PEFC) has a high maximum power
was 19% to 30% of range. Especially power- generation efficiency compared with other power
generation efficiency has high introduction plants. However, reduced power generation effi-
of PEFC system base load operation. ciency during partial-load operation of a system
2. The load factor of PEFC system is large with a reformer remains an issue. In particular,
and the system with a small load factor of in general houses, partial-load operations with
NEG has few CO2 emissions. There are few significant fluctuation of power load and low
CO2 emissions of PEFC base-load sharing efficiency occur frequently. On the other hand,
system as a result of analysis. Next, there hydrogen mixing technology is studied, concern-
is little IMPE system of PEFC and NEG. ing exhaust gas cleanup and improved efficiency
Moreover, when hydrogen is added to NEG, at the time of partial load of gas-engine cogenera-
CO2 emissions will be reduced 15%. tion (Mohammadi et al., 2005; Yap et al., 2004;
3. A PEFC base load and the system which Larsen & Wallace, 1995; Swain & Usuf, 1993).
operates a hydrogenation city gas engine in a If the hydrogen rate of fuel is increased when
load fluctuation region are the most advanta- the load is small, studies confirm that exhaust
geous under the overall evaluation of facility cleanup and brake thermal efficiency improve
cost, power generation efficiency, and CO2 (Mohammadi et al., 2005; Yap et al., 2004;
emissions. When the urban area model was Larsen & Wallace, 1995; Swain & Usuf, 1993).
analyzed using the highest system of an Although the facility cost of a hydrogen/gas hy-
overall evaluation, 25% of power-generation brid engine (NEG) cogeneration is low compared
efficiency and CO2 emissions were 1,106 kg/ with PEFC, the maximum power generation ef-
Day. However, it depends for CO2 emissions ficiency is inferior. However, if the partial-load
on power-demand fluctuation (load factor) characteristics of NEG are better compared with
of the microgrid which introduces a system PEFC, the introduction of PEFC to a house may
greatly. be disadvantageous. Therefore, in this chapter,
a PEFC and NEG hybrid cogeneration system
The maximum effect is expected by making an (HCGS) having the maximum power generation
energy-demand characteristic reflect in planning efficiency of PEFC and the partial-load charac-
of a microgrid. The relation of the locality of an teristics of NEG is proposed. In HCGS, PEFC is
energy demand characteristic and the optimal de- operated corresponding to a base load, and NEG
sign of a microgrid will be investigated hereafter. is operated corresponding to a fluctuating load.
181
In this case, since PEFC operates at a constant a boiler and a heat storage tank are investigated
load, the capacity of the fuel cell is designed to be with reference to the introduction of HCGS into
optimal, and can always be operated at high power 10 household apartment houses in Tokyo.
generation efficiency. On the other hand, NEG is
operated corresponding to fluctuating loads except HCGS Scheme
for the base load. Therefore, a low-load operat-
ing range, where PEFC is disadvantageous, can A block diagram of HCGS proposed in this
correspond to NEG. The facility cost of HCGS chapter is shown in Figure 14. City gas includes
increases compared with the case where PEFC or supply systems to NEG, to a reformer, to a heat
NEG is operated independently. Therefore, in order source burner, and to a boiler respectively, where
for the introduction of HCGS to city areas to be the Japanese conditions apply to the composition
effective, compared with the individual operation of City gas. Accordingly, City gas consists
of PEFC or NEG, the power cost and carbon di- mainly of methane. The extent of the HCGS city
oxide emissions must be advantageous. However, gas consumption is calculated by Equation (7).
the power generation efficiency and the carbon
dioxide emissions of PEFC, NEG, and HCGS U total ,t = U N ,t + U R,t + U B ,t + U S ,t (7)
are dependent on the load pattern of a building.
Moreover, since the exhaust heat characteristics
The operation model of HCGS is shown in
differ according to PEFC, NEG, or HCGS, the
Figure 15 (a). In the operation of HCGS, PEFC
optimal capacity of the heat storage tank and boiler
is used for a base load and NEG is used for other
of each system also vary, while the power genera-
fluctuating loads. Therefore, a high load of PEFC
tion efficiency and exhaust heat characteristics
is always highly efficient, and it can be operated.
of HCGS change with the capacity of PEFC and
NEG to be introduced. Therefore, in this chapter, C N' and C F' in this figure express the maximum
the relations among the capacity of PEFC and electric load of NEG and PEFC, respectively. It
NEG, power generation efficiency, carbon is necessary to determine the capacity of NEG
dioxide emissions, and the optimal capacity of and PEFC (C N ,C F ) introduced into HCGS with
Figure 14. HCGS block diagram
182
Figure 15. HCGS operation method
a value exceeding C N' and C F' of the figure. Since Equipment Characteristics
the load factor (load/capacity) changes according
to the capacity setup of C N and C F , the fuel Output Characteristics of NEG
consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of
HCGS also change. So, in this chapter, the fuel Past examination results are used for the output
consumption and carbon dioxide emissions when characteristics of a city gas engine with hydrogen
mixing (Mohammadi et al., 2005). The examined
changing the value (relatively) of C N and C F are
hydrogen mixing engine is 857 cc in a single
investigated. Figure 15 (b) shows a model show-
cylinder, and lean burn is enabled by injecting
ing the relation of the load factor and power
reformed gas into an inlet pipe. Figure 16 (a)
generation efficiency of NEG and PEFC. In the
shows the model of the city gas consumption
low-load operating range of NEG, an improvement
(CH4) of NEG, the amount of hydrogen mixing,
in brake thermal efficiency is expected by increas-
and the production of electricity. These charac-
ing the hydrogen concentration of fuel (Moham-
teristics were calculated from the hydrogen mix-
madi et al., 2005). However, there is no effect of
ing rate, based on the reference examination result
hydrogen mixing in the high-load operating range
(Mohammadi et al., 2005). In Figure 16 (a), when
of NEG. Moreover, as shown in Figure 15 (b),
the electricity production exceeds 14 kW, the
compared with PEFC, the maximum efficiency
amount of hydrogen mixing is zero, because high
point of NEG is low. Therefore, operation in a
thermal efficiency can be obtained, even if there
low-load zone of NEG is advantageous, and the
is no hydrogen mixing within the large operating
same applies to operation in a high-load zone of
range of engine power. Figure 16 (b), meanwhile,
PEFC. Since HCGS has the characteristics of the
shows the carbon dioxide emission characteristics
power generation efficiency of PEFC and NEG,
of NEG, calculated based on the reference ex-
it is expected to be comparable to the individual
amination result (Mohammadi et al., 2005). In
operation of PEFC or NEG, in which power gen-
this figure, the approximate expression showing
eration efficiency is advantageous.
the relation between load factor R and CO2 emis-
183
sions is shown. These approximate expressions ciency is included in the power generation effi-
differ bordering on 60% of the load factor, because ciency shown in this figure. Equation (8) defines
the fuel supplied to NEG has a high hydrogen rate reformer efficiency.
in a low-load range and the rate of city gas is high
within a high-load range. In a low-load range, the q
100
carbon dioxide ratio discharged by city gas reform- R = H 2 [%] (8)
qCH
ing for hydrogen manufacture and the burner for 4
reformers is high. On the other hand, in a high-

load range, the rate of carbon dioxide generated q H in Equation (8) is the calorific power of
2
in engine city gas burning is high. Figure 16 (c)
hydrogen in reformed gas, and qCH expresses the
shows the relationship between the load factor 4
and the generation efficiency of NEG. Although calorific power of the city gas supplied to a re-
reformed gas is supplied to NEG, reformer effi- former, while the calorific power of the city gas
Figure 16. Output characteristics of the hydrogen mixing gas engine cogenerator
184
for reforming and the city gas for heat-source Output Characteristics of PEFC
burners is included in qCH . In this chapter, R
Figure 17 (a) shows a model of the output char-
4
was set at 73% (T. Nakamura and M. Sei., (2002),

acteristics and overall efficiency of 5-kW PEFC
K. Oda, et al., (1999), Takeda, Y. et al., (2004)).
with a city gas reformer (Mikkola, 2001; Ibaraki
Generally, engine thermal efficiency increases,
Prefecture Government Office of Education,
so that the capacity expands. Consequently, as
2002). The heat output includes the exhaust heat
shown in Figure 16 (c), the NEG power generation
of the reformer and cell stack. Moreover, the
efficiency characteristics are separated into each
power output is the value of the inverter outlet.
capacity of NEG, which are then introduced into
Overall efficiency assumes the case where all of
the analysis.
the power and heat to output are consumed. Fig-
Figure 16 (d) shows the power and heat output
ure 17 (b) shows the model of the carbon dioxide
of 10-kW NEG, and a model of overall efficiency.
emissions and generation efficiency of PEFC of
The heat outputs are engine exhaust, cooling
Figure 17 (a). The carbon dioxide discharged by
water, and reformer exhaust heat. However, the
the operation of PEFC is based on a reforming
overall efficiency in this figure assumes a case
reaction (Equations (9) and (10)) and city gas
where all the power and heat outputted by NEG
burning of a reformer burner (Equation (11)). The
are consumed. Introduced in the Case Study are
3- to 10-kW NEG. The difference between the power generation efficiency F of Figure 17 (b)
generation efficiency and the carbon dioxide emis- was calculated from Equation (12). E F ,t , on the
sions of 3-kW NEG and 10-kW NEG is about 6%. right-hand side of Equation (12), shows the
Figure 18 (b) described in later Section explains power of the inverter outlet, q R,CH ,t shows the
the exhaust heat of the NEG.
4
calorific power of CH4 supplied to the reformer,
Figure 17. Output characteristics of the PEFC
185
Figure 18. Operation map
186
and q B ,CH ,t
shows the calorific power of CH4 power (based on city gas LHV, described as city
gas consumption below) consumed by a system.
4
supplied to the heat-source burner of the re-

When the operation maps of PEFC (Figure 18
former. The maximum generation efficiency of
(a)) and NEG (Figure 18 (b)) are compared, the
the PEFC model shown in Figure 17 (b) is 32%.
NEG of Operation Area A is wider. Furthermore,
in the Operation Area A of NEG, if the electricity
CH 4 + H2O CO + 3H2 206 [kJ/mol]
production increases, exhaust heat output will also
(9) increase rapidly, but in PEFC, even if the produc-
tion of electricity increases, the increase in exhaust
CO + H2O CO2 + H2 + 41 [kJ/mol] heat output is lost. Figure 18 (c) shows the opera-
(10) tion map when introducing 5-kW PEFC and 5-kW
NEG into HCGS. In HCGS, PEFC corresponds
CH 4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O + 802 [kJ/mol] to the base load and NEG is operated correspond-
(11) ing to a fluctuating load. The maximum power
generation efficiency point of PEFC approaches
the maximum load rate, as shown in Figure 17 (b).
E On the other hand, as shown in Figure 16, NEG
F ,t = F ,t 100 (12)

(
q R,CH + q B ,CH ,t
4 4
)

shows positive power generation efficiency and
exhaust gas characteristics at low load. As for the
installation of low-load zone operation of NEG,
System Operation Map high effectiveness is expected if the generation
efficiency and the load factor of PEFC and NEG
In this chapter, the chart showing the city gas have the relationship as shown in the model in
calorific power (consumption) supplied to HCGS Figure 15 (b). Therefore, the power generation
and the relationship between the production of efficiency of HCGS is predicted to improve when
electricity and the heat output of a system is defined compared to circumstances where PEFC or NEG
as an operation map. The fuel calorific power is introduced independently.
in Figure 18 has a lower calorific value. Figure 18
(a) shows the operation map of a 10-kW PEFC, Case Study
and Figure 18 (b) shows the operation map of
the 10-kW NEG respectively. Overall efficiency Figure 19 shows a power and heat demand
is calculable because the calorific power of the model for the representative days each month
supply fuel is shown in Figure 18. The Operation of 10 residence apartment houses in Tokyo, and
Area A of each figure is the production range of indicates the average load of each sampling time
electricity and exhaust heat output when operating (Architectural Institute of Japan, 2002). However,
PEFC or NEG independently. In Area A, when the the actual power-demand pattern is a set of loads
production of electricity is decided, heat output that change rapidly within a short time, such as
as shown in the figure occurs. Operation area B, an inrush current. Since a cooling load is included
meanwhile, indicates the range of production of in the electric power demand, there is consider-
electricity and the heat output (the amount of able power demand in the summer season. The
exhaust heat, and boiler output) when operating a annual power demand amount of ten houses is
boiler in addition to PEFC or NEG. However, the 57.6MWh, while the heat demand is 86GJ and
boiler efficiency of Operation Area B was set at the load factor of the power every month is shown
0.9. The operation map describes primary input in Figure 19. However, when the supply- demand
187
balance is calculated by averaging power demand fuel. Moreover, the value that divides the value
with inrush current, the result will be estimated adding the production of electricity and the amount
to be far smaller (Andrew & Steven, 2007; Adam of heat output by the calorific power of the city
& Matthew, 2005). The amount of city gas con- gas fuel supplied to a system is defined as overall
sumption is obtained using the operation map of efficiency. The carbon dioxide emissions of the
the system shown in Figure 18 for every time the system for every sampling time are obtained by
power and heat demand model shown in Figure giving a load factor to Figures 16 (b) and 17 (b),
19 is sampled. However, when the exhaust heat while total carbon dioxide emissions are calculated
output of a system exceeds heat demand, surplus by adding these values and the amount of carbon
heat is stored in a heat storage tank. On the other dioxide discharged by the boiler.
hand, when the exhaust heat is less than the heat
demand, heat is supplied from a heat storage tank Analysis Results and Discussions
and when the heat still remains insufficient, it is
output by a boiler. When exhaust heat exceeds Generation Efficiency and
the capacity of the heat storage tank, the excess Fuel Consumption
amount is released using a radiator. In the analysis
of this chapter, the daily radiation loss of the heat Figure 20 (a) shows the analysis output of the an-
storage tank becomes 5%. Generation efficiency is nual average generation efficiency, and Figure 20
calculated by dividing the power demand amount (b) shows the result of the calorific power of the
by the calorific power of the consumed city gas city gas fuel consumed each year. However, the
Figure 19. Power and heat demand for ten houses apartment in Tokyo
188
Figure 20. Result of annual average power-generation efficiency and fuel consumption
fuel quantity consumed by a boiler is not included the merit of an independent source becomes clear.
in Figure 20 (b). The average generation efficiency However, it is difficult for the proposed system to
in the case of PEFC and NEG of 5 kW peaks in be economically feasible. Generation efficiency
this case, as shown in Figure 20 (a). The generation is higher with the installation of 10-kW NEG
efficiency in this case is 1.37 compared with the rather than that of 10-kW PEFC. If the energy-
PEFC individual system, and is 1.28 compared demand pattern shown in Figure 19 is installed
with the NEG individual system. This difference is into 10-kW PEFC or 10-kW NEG, the genera-
equivalent to the difference in the fuel consumption tion efficiency of PEFC will fall compared with
shown in Figure 20 (b). The conventional method NEG. Therefore, a system (NEG) with sufficient
illustrated is the value where the presumed value generation efficiency at low load has a stronger
in a thermal power station is power generation influence than one (PEFC) with high generation
efficiency of 40%, while transmission loss is not efficiency at high load.
included. Since the power generation efficiency of
the proposed power system is lower than a thermal Heat Storage Tank and Boiler Capacity
power station, there is a considerable fuel amount
of heat for the proposed system and it is difficult Figure 21 shows the analysis result of the exhaust
to improve the power generation efficiency of heat of a representative day every month. The
the independent distributed power supply rather system with the most exhaust heat is 10-kW NEG
than that of a conventional system. An indepen- (Figure 21 (a)), while 10-kW PEFC produces the
dent distributed power supply has the economic least, due to the difference in the Operation Area
advantages of low power transmission loss and A of the system operation map, as shown in Figure
waste heat loss. Therefore, when exhaust heat can 18. In other words, although the increase in exhaust
be used effectively, or when the distance between heat is lost due to the increase in the production
a power plant and demand area is considerable, of electricity of PEFC, NEG changes rapidly. For
189
Figure 21. Result of the exhaust heat output of an every month representation day
190
this reason, when the power load alters sharply, 20 (a). In other words, if generation efficiency is
the exhaust heat characteristics of PEFC and NEG high, the amount of exhaust heat will decrease,
differ considerably. Based on the result of Figure and periods of heat shortage emerge.
21, the amount of exhaust heat increases, so that
the NEG capacity does the same. Moreover, since Carbon Dioxide Emissions
there is little heat demand in the summer season,
there is considerable surplus exhaust heat. Figure 23 shows the analysis result of the carbon
Figure 22 shows the analysis result of the in- dioxide emissions of a representative day every
vestigation into the relation between heat storage month. The carbon-dioxide emissions of the
tank capacity and boiler capacity. Since exhaust boiler are included in Figures 23 (b), (c), and
heat characteristics also vary according to the (d). On the other hand, in Figures 23 (a) and (e),
capacity of PEFC and NEG, the optimum heat heat demand can be fulfilled by storing the ex-
storage and boiler capacity differ for each system. haust heat of HCGS. Since a large cooling load
As shown in the example of Figure 18 (c), there is added to the system in the summer season,
is little exhaust heat of PEFC and NEG that com- carbon dioxide emissions are considerable when
poses HCGS compared with Figures 18 (a) and compared with other seasons. Although HCGS
(b). This is attributable to the low capacity of (Figures 23 (b), (c) and (d)) is accompanied by
PEFC and NEG. Consequently, periods of time the boiler operation, there is a greater amount
when the exhaust heat of HCGS and the heat of carbon dioxide discharged by power genera-
supply of a time shift of the heat storage tank do tion than that discharged by the boiler operation.
not satisfy heat demand appear. The boiler capac- Figure 24 shows the carbon-dioxide emissions of
ity installed into HCGS is smallest in the order the conventional method (commercial power and
of 5-kW PEFC and 5-kW NEG, 3-kW PEFC and boiler). Moreover, Figure 25 shows the result of
7-kW NEG, and 7-kW PEFC and 3-kW NEG the annual carbon-dioxide emissions using the
respectively. This order is the same as that of the conventional method and the proposed system.
average generation efficiency described in Figure The amount of carbon-dioxide-emissions using
Figure 22. Analysis result of the heating storage capacity and boiler capacity when satisfying a heat
balance
191
Figure 23. Result of the carbon-dioxide emissions of an every month representation day
192
Figure 24. Result of the carbon-dioxide emissions for conventional method
Figure 25. Result of the annual carbon-dioxide emissions
the conventional method is calculated based emissions, and the optimal capacity of the boiler
on the investigative commission report of the and heat storage tank were investigated regard-
calculation method of the amount of greenhouse ing the installation of HCGS into 10 household
gas discharge (Ministry of the Environment in apartment houses in Tokyo. Consequently, the
Japan, 2003). There is a peak of 10 kW PEFC following conclusions were obtained:
in the result of Figure 25. This is because of the
considerable load fluctuation of power and the 1. When the capacity of PEFC and NEG that
considerable operation frequency of a low-load composes HCGS was changed and the
region in a general house, while the reduced carbon annual average generation efficiency was
dioxide emissions of a system depend more on a investigated, the case of each remaining at 5
system (NEG) with better operation characteristics kW was good at 27.3%. This value was 1.37
under partial load than one (PEFC) with a large times that of the PEFC individual system,
maximum efficiency point. and 1.28 times that of the NEG individual
system respectively.
Conclusions 2. The capacity of PEFC and NEG that consti-
tute HCGS was changed, and the relation-
The PEFC and NEG hybrid cogeneration system ship between the heating storage capacity
(HCGS) equipped with a proton-exchange mem- and boiler capacity was clarified. Since the
brane fuel cell (PEFC) at base load operation and exhaust heat decreases to enhance the average
the hydrogen mixing gas engine (NEG) of a load generation efficiency, a large boiler capacity
that follows operation were examined. In this is required.
chapter, generation efficiency, carbon dioxide
193
3. NEG independent systems produce a small Larsen, J. F., & Wallace, J. S. (1995). Comparison
annual amount of carbon dioxide emission. of emissions and efficiency of a turbocharged
When inputting the energy-demand pattern lean-burn natural gas and hythane-fuelled engine.
of a general house into HCGS, the carbon ASME ICE, 24, 3140.
dioxide emission characteristics in a partial-
load region at low load have a significant
influence.
ogy, Finland. 58-79.
REFERENCES Mohammadi A., et al. (2005). Development of
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195
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
C : Capacity kW
C : Maximum load kW
E : Power kW
E F : Power of an inverter outlet [kW]
E g : Production of electricity [kW]
E : Power load [kW]
F : Fuel cell
G : CO2 emission [g/s]
G : CO2 emission [g/(skW)]
N : Gas engine generator
N E : Installed number of NEG
P : Capacity of generator [kW]
Pc : Interconnection power with other grids [kW]
Pg : Production of electricity of the generating equipment of a system interconnection grid [kW]
Q : Amount of fuel supply [kg/s]
q : Primary power input [kW]
R : Load factor [%]
S : Boiler
t : Sampling time
U : Flow rate [m3/s]
Greek Symbols
: Efficiency [%]
Subscripts
B : Burner installed in a reformer

E : City-gas engine generator (NEG)
Er : Reforming gas
F , FC: Fuel cell
l : Building model with PEFC system and NEG
m : Building model with NEG
n : Building model without PEFC system and NEG
p : City-gas engine
R : Reformer
S : Reformer burner
196
Equipment
B: Boiler
C/O: Carbon monoxide oxidation equipment
CGS: Cogeneration
DC/AC: DC-AC converter
FC: Fuel cell
G/T: Generator
HCGS: Hybrid cogeneration
I/T: Inverter
NEG: Gas engine cogenerator
R: Reformer
PEFC: Proton-exchange membrane fuel cell
Vb: Valve
197
198
Chapter 7
Independent Microgrid
Composed of Distributed
Engine Generator
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Energy Cost of an Independent Microgrid with Control of Power
Output Sharing of a Distributed Engine Generator and Improvement of Power Generation Efficiency
of an Independent Microgrid Composed of Distributed Engine Generators. In the 1st section, small
kerosene diesel-engine power generators are introduced into an independent microgrid, and power and
heat are supplied to 20 houses. If the proposed system is introduced into a community with little heat
demand, effectiveness will decrease greatly. The 2nd section investigates the power generation efficiency
and power cost of an independent microgrid that distributes the power from a small diesel engine power
generator. When the number of distributions of the engine generator is installed, the cost of the fuel
decreases.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION and exhaust heat to make up for insufficiency is

supplied. The boiler is installed in the house that
In the 1st section, small kerosene diesel-engine does not install the engine generator, and heat is
power generators are introduced into an indepen- supplied to the demand side. Partial load operation
dent microgrid (IMG) that connects 20 houses, of the engine generator has a large influence on
and power and heat are supplied to them. A 3 kW power generation efficiency. Therefore, this study
engine generator is installed in six houses, and a discusses the system that controls the power of the
boiler and a heat storage tank are also installed, engine generator by the power distribution control
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch007
Independent Microgrid Composed of Distributed Engine Generator
system using the genetic algorithm (GA), and the ENERGY COST OF AN
control system that changes the number of opera- INDEPENDENT MICROGRID WITH
tions of the engine generators according to the CONTROL OF POWER OUTPUT
magnitude of the power load. As a case study, the SHARING OF A DISTRIBUTED
energy-demand model of the 20 houses in Sapporo ENGINE GENERATOR
was analyzed. As a result, the annual energy cost
of the number of operations system and the power Introduction
distribution control system is reducible with 16%
and 8% compared with the conventional method, The independent microgrid (IMG) that accom-
respectively. However, it depends for this cutback modates power and heat independently without
effect on the heat demand characteristic greatly, connecting with other power systems is expected
and when the proposed system is introduced into a to back up power supply in an emergency, and
community with little heat demand, effectiveness at peak cuts of a power plant, and the effective
will decrease greatly. use of exhaust heat is anticipated (Alibhai et al.,
The summary of the 2nd section is as follows. 2004; Carlos & Hernandez, 2005; Abu-Sharkh et
The power generation efficiency and power cost al., 2006; Robert 2004). Usually, since the energy
of an independent microgrid that distributes the transport distance of a microgrid is short, effec-
power from a small diesel engine power generator tive use of exhaust heat is possible. The change
was investigated using numerical analysis. The factor of the power load changes over a short
fuel consumption of a small diesel engine and period, such as with an inrush current, and there
the relation between power generation and heat is a change over a long period in the demand. In
power were obtained in experiments using a pro- IMG with large load fluctuation, the dynamic
totype. The independent microgrid built using one characteristics of the grid and fall in generation
to six sets of 20 average houses in Sapporo and efficiency due to partial load are subjects. On
the distributed engine generators were examined the other hand, because the power is supplied to
using these test results. However, the operation various demand sides, the load of a large-scale
of a diesel engine power generator controls the power generation system is leveled. Load fluc-
number of operations according to the magnitude tuations can be leveled by installing a battery in
of the power load of the microgrid. When a die- IMG (Gouda et al., 2004). However, installation
sel engine power generator is distributed, since of a battery is disadvantageous when facility cost
the power generation capacity per set decreases and maintenance are taken into consideration. In
compared with the central system, the load factor IMG that does not have a battery installed, the
of each engine generator rises. As a result, the power generator connected to the grid is expected
operation of an engine at partial load with low to have frequent partial-load operations with low
efficiency can be reduced. When the number of efficiency. As a result, it is expected that power
distributions of the engine generator increases as generation efficiency in the entirety of distributed
a result of numerical analysis, the cost of the fuel power generators is inferior to large-scale existing
decreases. However, when the rise in facility cost power facilities. Therefore, in this Section, regard-
is taken into consideration, the number of engine ing IMG introduced into city areas, the operation
generators for distribution is in fact 3 or 4. plan of each engine generator is investigated for
199
the efficiency fall of the distributed small engine with large-sized power facilities. For that reason,
generator by numerical analysis, and improvement if the microgrid is used in an area with much heat
is attempted. demand, it will be predicted that the reduction ef-
The distributed engine generator supplies the fective of energy cost is large. Therefore, in this
power and heat to the house that installed the Section, the energy-demand model of the house
facility first. Furthermore, the surplus power of in Sapporo with much heat demand is analyzed.
the engine generator is supplied to other houses In this Section, the energy efficiency, the energy
through IMG. The heat demand of the houses in cost, and the operation method when using IMG
which an engine generator is installed is supplied by these two control methods are investigated.
by the heat power of the exhaust heat of the engine
generator, backup boiler, and heat storage tank. System Description
In houses in which an engine generator is not in-
stalled, a boiler is operated and heat is supplied. Independent Microgrid Configuration
Therefore, the cost of the heat in each house differs
according to the operation method of the engine A schematic figure of IMG constituted from the
generator. Then, a controller adjusts the power engine generator assumed in this Section is shown
distribution of the engine generator connected to in Figure 1. The engine generator is installed in
IMG, and the operation method aiming at high 20 houses. As houses connected to the IMG,
power generation efficiency and effective use of there are houses that installs the engine genera-
exhaust heat is examined. Therefore, this Section tor (Figure 2), and houses that is not installed. A
discuss the system that controls the power of en- boiler is installed in all 20 houses and the heat of
gine generators by the power distribution control the house with that the engine generator is not
system using the genetic algorithm (GA) (Baker, introduced is supplied from the boiler. On the
1985; Goldberg, 1989), and the control system other hand, in the house that installs the engine
that changes the number of operations of engine generator, the heat storage tank for exhaust heat is
generators according to the magnitude of power installed. Among the 20 houses connected to the
load. GA can apply to a nonlinear many-variables IMG, engine generators are installed in 6 houses.
problem, and there are many introduction cases In addition, the power generation capacity of the
until now (Baker, 1985; Goldberg, 1989). Since engine generators is 3 kW, and the output char-
GA is a random search, there are few constrain acteristics of all the engine generators are set to
conditions, and judgment of a designer is hard to be the same. The engine generator consists of a
be taken into consideration. The microgrid can kerosene diesel-engine and a synchronous power
use exhaust heat with few heat radiation compared generator. The power generated with the engine
Figure 1. Diesel engine independent micro-grid system
200
Figure 2. Individual house with engine-generator connected to an independent micro-grid system
generators are supplied to each house through a Operating Method

system interconnection device and the IMG. The
system interconnection device also intermediates Figure 3 (a) shows the power generation efficiency
the connection of the load and the IMG. The syn- model of the central system of the engine generator,
chronization of the generated alternating current and Figures 3 (b-1), (b-2) and (b-3) show the power
power and the power of the IMG is controlled by generation efficiency model of the distribution
the system interconnection device. system. In the central system, the power is supplied
The system configuration of the engine gen- with the one-set engine generator. The capacity
erator installed in each house is shown in Figure of the engine generator shown in Figure 3 (a) is
2. The exhaust heat outputted with an engine 9kW. Here, load factor is the value that divided
generator is engine-cooling water and exhausts the amount of power generation by the capacity
gas, and this heat is stored in a heat storage tank of the power generator. As shown in Figure 3 (a),
through a heat exchanger. In addition, the heat- the power generation efficiency in the case of cor-
transfer-medium heat exchanger for supplying responding to 3.0, 4.5, 6.0 and 9.0 kW load with
heat to a house is installed in the heat storage tank. one set of engine generator (E/G (0)) are 18, 24,
After exchanging this heat transfer medium for 27, 30%. Figures 3 (b-1), (b-2), and (b-3) are the
exhaust heat in the heat storage tank, it is supplied models of the power generation efficiency of the
to a backup boiler. When there is a large amount distributed system. In this distributed system, it
of exhaust heat compared with the heat load, the is assumed that a three-set engine generator, E/G
excess exhaust heat is stored in the heat storage (1), E/G (2), and E/G (3) with a power generation
tank. On the other hand, when the exhaust heat capacity of 3 kW, are installed. When 3.0, 4.5, 6.0,
exceeds the heating storage capacity of the heat and 9.0 kW power load are added to IMG with
storage tank, the exhaust heat is released from a the distributed system, each power generation
radiator. In houses that the engine generator is not efficiency is 30, 29, 30, and 30%, respectively.
installed, power generated with the engine gen- It is because a three-set engine generator can be
erator of other houses through IMG is used. operated at the maximum efficiency point to 3,
201
Figure 3. Installed numbers of an engine generator, and efficiency model
6, and 9kW power load. For example, when 6kW engine generators, and describes each gene group
load is added to IMG, E/G (1) and E/G (2) will by 8 bits of 0 and 1. The production of electric-
be operated at the maximum efficiency point, and ity in sampling time t of each engine generator is
E/G (3) will stop. Furthermore, when 4.5kW load calculable from the amount of power demand and
is added to IMG, for example E/G (1) and E/G (2) load rate of the IMG. An objective function is the
are operated with a 2.25kW output, it can operate minimization of the fuel cost of one year, as Equa-
at efficiency higher than Figure 3 (a). Therefore, tion (1) shows. It is evaluated that the value with
this Section investigates the operation method a smaller fuel cost of one year shown by Equation
of IMG regarding the power distribution control (1) of the adaptive value of GA is higher. The fuel
method of each engine generator, and the control cost of one year is the sum total of the fuel cost
of the number of operations method of the engine of an engine generator (Ye,t ,n ), the fuel cost of the
generators. boiler introduced into a house that the engine
generator is installed (Ybe,t ,n ), and the fuel cost of
Control System of Engine Generators
the boiler introduced into a house that the engine
The engine generators connected to the IMG are generator is not installed (Ybn ,t ). Figure 5 shows
controlled by the power distribution control sys- the analysis flow of the GA. In the GA, many
tem and the control of the number of operations chromosome models (load ratio of engine gen-
system. In this Section, a power distribution con- erators) are prepared at random, and let these be
trol system is analyzed using the genetic algorithm initial generations. The number of individuals
(GA). The chromosome model (Figure 4 (a)) with a high adaptive value of objective function
introduced into GA expresses the load ratio of six Equation (1), initial-generation chromosome
202
Figure 4. The chromosome model used for genetic algorithm
Figure 5. GA analysis flow
model group, is increased, and it is operated so model with the highest adaptive value is deter-
that a low adaptive value may be selected. Muta- mined to be the optimal load ratio of the engine
tion is added to the chromosome model group, generators in the last-generation chromosome
and the generation is changed, maintaining as model group.
much collective variety as possible. The mutation
operation of a chromosome model group and Yday =
selection / increase operation are repeatedly cal- Year 6
culated until it results in the last generation that minimization (Ye,t ,n + Ybe,t ,n ) + Ybn ,t
has been determined beforehand. In addition, the t =0 n =1

(1)
203
Ye,t ,n = C fuel Fe,t t (2) Section uses the experimental results obtained by
the operation of the test equipment of Figure 6. The
engine specifications of the cogeneration system
Ybe,t ,n = C fuel Fbe,t t (3)
of Figure 6 are shown in Table 1. In addition, the
specifications of a synchronous power generator
Ybn ,t = C fuel Fbn ,t t (4) are shown in Table 2. The fuel of a diesel engine
is kerosene, and the engine has 2 cylinders with
4 cycles. The power generator is a single-phase
In the operation of mutation, a parent chromo-
synchronous type, and the power is transmitted
some model is first selected at random under the
from the power axis of the diesel engine.
mutation probability given beforehand. Moreover,
the position of the varying gene is decided at
Output Characteristics of a Small-Scale
random. If the original value of a gene is 1, it
Diesel-Engine Co-Generation (Obara et
changes to 0; if it is 0, it changes to 1.
al., 2005)
Diesel-Engine Generator System The examination results of the calorific power
of the kerosene fuel supplied to the small diesel-
Engine Generator Specification engine power generator are shown in Figure 6,
and the heating value of the engine-cooling water,
The test equipment of the cogeneration system
the heating value of engine exhaust gas, and the
using a small-scale diesel engine is shown in
production of electricity are shown in Figure 7. If
Figure 6 (Obara et al., 2005). The analysis of this
Figure 6. Test diesel engine co-generation system
204
Table 1. Engine specifications

tricity and the power generation efficiency of a
diesel-engine power generator, as well as the load
factor and power generation efficiency. Although
the engine number of rotations was changed and
examined from 1440 rpm to 2000 rpm, the influ-
ence on power generation efficiency was small.
An approximate expression of each examination
result is shown in the figure. These approximate
expressions are used in the calculation of the
power generation efficiency of the case study.
Generally, in an engine generator of the same
Table 2. Generator specifications
form, even if the maximum engine production of
electricity differs, the characteristics of the load
factor and power generation efficiency can be
managed similarly. Then, similar to the relation
between the load factor and the power generation
efficiency of the engine generator used in the case
study, it is managed without being dependent on
the power generation capacity. The relation of the
load factor and exhaust heat output of the 3kW
Figure 7. Characteristics of diesel engine gen- engine generator shown in Figure 9 was prepared
erator output. Engine number of revolutions is based on the result of the experimental device
1600rpm shown in Figure 6. The exhaust heat output char-
acteristic of the 18kW engine generator in Figure
9 was calculated from the experimental result of
a 3kW engine generator. However, the maximum
power-generation efficiency of the 18kW engine
generator increases compared with 3kW so that
following Section may describe. For this reason,
the exhaust heat characteristic of the 18kW engine
generator is not 6 times the 3kW engine. In the
case study described in the following Section, the
exhaust heat output characteristic of the engine
generator shown in Figure 9 is introduced.
Case Study
the kerosene fuel supplied to an engine is increased,
the production of electricity and the heating value Analysis Program
of the exhaust gas will increase, but the heating
value of the engine-cooling water will decrease. The calculation of power cost takes the unit price
The kerosene supply heating value at the time of of kerosene fuel. In this Section, the kerosene
3 kW maximum output is 9.8 kW. Figure 8 shows cost is set at 466 dollar/m3 (Fuji Futures, 2005).
the examination results of the production of elec- Moreover, the conversion rate of the dollar to the
205
Figure 8. Diesel engine generator efficiency

of the analysis. The generation number when
converging is still smaller. In addition, in each
generation, the adaptive value increases in the
50 highest chromosome models, and selects 50
chromosome models with a low order of adaptive
value. Each of these parameters was decided by
trial and error. The chromosome model introduced
in this Section cannot express the method of con-
trolling the number of operations of the engine
generator. Although this is the reason for using
the output characteristics of the engine generator
shown in Figure 7 for the analysis program of GA,
even when the power is zero, the heat power of
the engine-cooling water and exhaust gas is not
zero. The chromosome model cannot express the
yen is 1 dollar = 118 yen. For the operation char-
stop of an engine generator.
acteristics of the power distribution control method
of an engine generator, software for the analysis
Energy Demand Models
flow of Figure 5 is prepared and investigated.
The power demand pattern of Figure 10 (a) is the
Analysis Conditions of GA
measurement result of an individual house for a
representative day in February in Sapporo, Japan
In the analysis of the power distribution control
(Narita, 1996). Moreover, Figure 10 (b) shows the
method of the engine generator using GA, the
heat demand pattern of each month of an aver-
number of generations is 5000, the number of
age house in Sapporo (Narita, 1996). The power
chromosome models is 3000. Here, the model used
demand pattern does not change significantly by
for analysis is the chromosome model shown in
each month. This is because there is no cooling
Figure 4 described in previous Section. Operation
load in the summer, and the exhaust heat and the
of mutation is added to 10-6% of the gene models
heat of the auxiliary boiler are supplied to a house
shown in Figure 4 among all the chromosome
assuming the heating load of winter. In the case
models. The generation number is the number of
study, the load factor, the heating value of the
the rough indications to convergence achievement
cooling water, the heating value of the exhaust
Figure 9. Exhaust heat characteristics
206
Figure 10. Average daily power and heat needs of a cold region house with traditional heating system space
gas, the fuel consumption, and the power gen- of EG (1) to EG (6) shown in Figure 11 replaces
eration efficiency of each engine generator are for other engine generators. Figure 12 shows the
calculated using the power demand pattern of the result of the power generation efficiency of the
representative day shown in Figure 10 (a). The central system of one set of 18kW engine genera-
analysis model of IMG connects and constitutes tors, and the power distribution control system
20 houses of the power pattern of Figure 10 (a). of six sets of 3kW engine generators shown in
Figure 11. Distribution of the engine generator
Results and Discussion will increase power generation efficiency clearly
compared with the central system, as shown in
Power Distribution Control of Figure 12. Figure 13 shows the operation plan
Each Engine Generator that replaces the result of the load factor of each
engine generator shown in Figure 11, and gives
1. Load Factor of Each Engine Generator a load to descending order from E/G (1) to E/G
Figure 11 shows the result of analyzing the load (6). In the operation plan shown in Figure 13, the
factor of six engine generators placed in the power generation efficiency is the same as power
power distribution control system. The power distribution control system shown in Figure 12.
demand model used for analysis is February Thus, the result of power generation efficiency of
representation day shown in Figure 10 (a). In the the operation plan shown in Figure 11 and Figure
analysis using GA, the value of the power load 13 is equivalent.
distribution rate with six engine generators can
be obtained. From the power load distribution 2. Fuel Cost
rate allocated to each engine, load factor of each Figure 14 shows the analysis results of the calorific
engine shown in Figure 11 was calculated. How- fuel power consumed by the engine generator
ever, the determined the power load distribution installed in 6 houses on a representative day in
rate is given to six engines at random. If it is the August and February. The power demand pat-
same sampling time, planning of each load factor tern shown in Figure 9 and the analysis results
207
Figure 11. Analysis result of a load factor with the power distribution control of six engine generators
Figure 12. Fuel consumption of all the engine generators with power distribution control
208
of Figure 14 are similar figures, and the analysis Figure 16 shows the results of the fuel cost
using GA shows the operation characteristics that when supplying energy to 20 houses connected
follow the power demand. Figure 15 shows the to IMG by the power distribution control of the
results of the cost of the fuel consumed by the engine generators in February and August on a
boiler installed in 14 houses in which an engine representative day. The sum totals of the cost of
generator is not installed. the fuel consumed by 6 engine generators and the
Figure 15. Boiler cost analysis results of individual houses without engine generator
209
Figure 16. Cost analysis results of IMG with the power distribution control of six engine generators
cost of the fuel consumed by 6 boilers are shown Figure 17 is used for the relation of the capacity
in Figure 16 (a) and Figure 16 (b). When the results and the maximum efficiency of an engine genera-
of February and August are compared, there is tor in analysis. The relation shown in Figure 17
no large difference in the fuel cost of the engine was obtained from cogeneration products using
generators, but the cost of the fuel for the boilers a small-scale diesel power plant (YANMAR Co.,
is significantly different. Compared with the Ltd., 2006).
representative day in August, the results of the
representative day in February show that the fuel 2. Output Characteristics of Each Engine
cost of the engine generator is 1.02 times, the cost Generator
of the boiler fuel is 12.7 times, and the total is 2.6 Figures 18 show the analysis results of the heat of
times higher. the engine-cooling water, the heat of the engine
exhaust gas, and the power generation of each
Control of the Number of Engine engine generator for distribution with six engine
Generators generators while the number of operations is
controlled. The heat of the engine-cooling water
1. Relation of the Capacity and the Maximum changes little, even if the power load changes
Efficiency of an Engine Generator sharply according to the output characteristics of
Generally, if the capacity of an engine generator the engine generator shown in Figure 7. Therefore,
increases, efficiency will also increase. Therefore, if the demand characteristics of the power and the
Figure 17. Rate of power generator capacity and the maximum power generation efficiency
210
Figure 18. Energy output characteristics when controlling the number of operations of six engine generators
heat in Sapporo shown in Figure 9 are taken into 3. Power Generation Efficiency
consideration and the engine generator operates Figures 19 show the analysis results of the power
from 23:00 to 05:00 with little power demand, a generation efficiency and the load factor of each
significant amount of heat from the engine-cooling sampling time of an engine generator with arranged
water can be obtained. distribution. The load factor of the central system
211
is 28 to 89% of the range, and the power generation in Figure 19, and is 100% of the load factor at all
efficiency changes from 13% to 28% of the range. sampling times. From 02:00 to 05:00, E/G (2)
On the other hand, E/G (1) of the analysis results has a load factor of 70% or more. The load factor
of the number of engine generators is 6 as shown is 100% in other time zones. E/G (3) has a load
Figure 19. Load factor and generation efficiency characteristics when controlling the number of opera-
tions of six engine generators
212
factor of 100% in the 06:00 to 09:00 time zone However, the result shown in Figure 20 is only the
and the 16:00 to 23:00 time zone. E/G (1) to E/G result of the fuel used for power generation, and the
(3) all show an operation pattern with a high load fuel used for heat supply is not included. When the
factor compared with the central system. On the number of engine installations is one, it shall be
other hand, E/G (4) and E/G (5) have a high load the central system, and the capacity of the power
factor from 16:00 to nighttime, but in other time generator shall be 18 kW. This value can cover
zones, the load factor shows a low operation pat- 20 houses with the maximum amount demanded
tern. Regarding E/G (6), the operation of the load of the power shown in Figure 9. Moreover, 2, 4,
factor at a maximum of 33% takes place only from and 6 engine installations show 9 kW, 4.5 kW,
16:00 to 22:00, and the hours worked are short. If and 3 kW in capacity, respectively. The relation
an engine generator is distributed and arranged, between engine capacity and power generation
the operating ratio of the engine generator will be efficiency was calculated using Figure 17. If the
distributed. If the efficiency of an engine generator number of distributions of an engine generator
that has stopped is not taken into consideration, the increases as shown in the figure, fuel consumption
power generation efficiency of the whole system will decrease. However, when four distributions
of the distribution system of engine generators of an engine generator is compared with six, the
is improved compared with the central system. difference is 6%, and even if the number of instal-
However, if the engine generator stops, an engine lations is further increased, the reduction effect
generator with short working hours arises. If the of fuel consumption shows slight improvement.
life of the whole engine generator linked to IMG Figure 21 shows the analysis results of the
is taken into consideration, periodically replacing years of operation of IMG in which engine gen-
the starting order of the engine generator of E/G erators are distributed, and the cost of the kerosene
(1) to E/G (6) is required, for example. fuel used for power generation. However, the
result shown in Figure 21 is only the result of the
4. Power Costs fuel cost for power generation; the fuel cost for
Figure 20 shows the analysis results of expressing heat supply is not included. The years of operation
the number of distributions of an engine generator, were analyzed as 3 or 10 years. An increase in the
and the amount of consumption of kerosene fuel number of distributions of an engine generator
on a representative day with the calorific power. will reduce the cost of kerosene consumption as
Figure 20. Result of the relation between the installed numbers of an engine generator, and the fuel
consumption
213
Figure 21. Analysis results of the number of installations of an engine generator, and kerosene fuel cost
shown in Figure 20. In particular, when the num- Relation between the Control Method
ber of distributions of an engine generator is 2, and Fuel Cost
compared with the central system, the decline is
large, and there is a 27% reduction in kerosene Figure 22 shows the analysis results of all the
cost. If the number of engine generators for dis- engine generators of the 20 houses connected to
tribution is increased, the cost of the kerosene IMG, and the cost of fuel consumption by all the
fuel used for power generation will decrease, but boilers. The heating storage capacities connected
the ratio of the effect becomes so insignificant to IMG are a total of 1620 MJ. The following
that the number of engine generators increases. Section describes the comparison results of the
If the rise in facility costs due to the increase in fuel cost of the control of the number of opera-
the number of installations of an engine generator tions method and the power distribution control
is taken into consideration, even if the number of method. Compared with the power distribution
distributions of an engine generator is determined control system, the analysis results of the control
to be 2, a reduction in kerosene fuel cost is fully of the number of operations system show the fuel
attained. Because the transportation distance of cost of an engine generator to be 74%, the cost
exhaust heat will increase when the number of of boiler fuel to be 108%, and the total cost to
installation of an engine generator is reduced, the be 96%. The power distribution control system
boiler cost in winter increases. has much exhaust heat from the engine genera-
Figure 22. Cost analysis results of IMG with the number control operations of an engine generator
214
tors compared with the control of the number of the conventional method. On the other hand, the
operations system, and the cost of the boiler fuel power distribution control system increases
is low. On the other hand, in the control of the slightly. When a system is introduced into com-
number of operations method, the fuel cost of munities with few heat demand amounts, the
the engine generators is low compared with the difference of the heat cost shown in Figure 23
power distribution control method, and total cost will become small. And the advantage of the
falls by 4%. Compared with the power distribu- energy cost of the microgrid decreases. Here, the
tion control system, the control of the number of basic monthly charge for commercial power is
operations system can be performed at low cost 8.28 dollars, and the unit price is 0.205 dollar/
of power generation fuel. kWh. Compared with the energy total cost of the
Figure 23 shows the result of the annual en- conventional method, the reduction of the number
ergy cost of each operating method. As shown in of control operations and of the power distribution
Figure 23, the annual energy cost due to the mi- control operations is 38% and 33%, respectively.
crogrids is cheaper than the conventional method. The engine microgrid with improvement of partial-
Compared with the conventional system, the re- load operation falls in energy cost compared to
duction rate of the fuel cost of the control of the the conventional method.
number of operations system is 16%. And, com-
pared with the conventional system, the reduction Conclusions
rate of the fuel cost of the power distribution
control system is 8%. The generation efficiency The relation between two control systems and the
of the engine generator with load fluctuation does energy costs of the independent microgrid (IMG)
not exceed large compared with commercial in which small diesel-engine power generators
power. Therefore, the reason the energy cost of are distributed were investigated by numerical
the microgrid is advantageous is that a power unit analysis. As a result, the following Conclusions
price and heat supply cost differ from the conven- were obtained. Three systems of the conventional
tional method. In a microgrid, heat cost is cheap system (commercial power, heat storage tank and
by a waste heat recovery. From this, the energy kerosene boiler),the power distribution control
supply cost of the microgrid changes in the en- system,and the control of the number of operations
ergy demand characteristic to introduce. Only by system were evaluated using the energy demand
generating cost, the control of the number of model of the 20 houses in Sapporo. Compared
operations system is reduced 22% compared with with the conventional system, the reduction rate
Figure 23. Cost analysis results of IMG with the number control operations of an engine generator
215
of the fuel cost of the control of the number of that follow changes in power load compared with
operations system is 16%. And, compared with a grid interconnected for other systems (Robert,
the conventional system, the reduction rate of the 2004). Although the independent microgrid real-
fuel cost of the power distribution control system izes maximum distributed energy, there are issues
is 8%. In the microgrid, since engine exhaust to tackle such as the stability of the dynamic
heat is used, heat cost is cheap. The energy sup- characteristics of power and the development of
ply cost of the system takes influence in a heat an optimal design method (Tanrioven, 2005). In
demand characteristic greatly. When the proposal addition, potential drops in efficiency at partial
microgrid is introduced into a community with load operation of the generating equipment oc-
little heat demand, the effectiveness over the curring in the load fluctuations of a grid need to
conventional system will decrease. When only be improved. The change factor of the power load
the generating cost of the microgrid and the changes rapidly, such as during an inrush current,
conventional method is compared, the control of or a change in a long period for the demand. This
the number of operations system will be reduced chapter describes changes in a short period as
22%. On the other hand, the power distribution load fluctuation, and changes in a long period as
control system increases slightly. demand fluctuation.
When a building linked to a grid is a house,
in IMG, both load fluctuation and demand fluc-
IMPROVEMENT OF POWER tuation are expected to be large. In a large-scale
GENERATION EFFICIENCY OF power plant, since power is supplied to various
AN INDEPENDENT MICROGRID demands, demand fluctuation is smoothed. In
COMPOSED OF DISTRIBUTED IMG with big load fluctuation, if no electricity
ENGINE GENERATORS storage system is installed, the operating point
of the power generator will change significantly.
Introduction However, if facility cost and maintenance cost are
taken into consideration, installation of an elec-
Application of microgrid technology provides tricity storage system can be avoided. When not
a backup power supply in an emergency, peak installing electricity storage equipment in IMG,
cut of an electric power plant, and effective use a power generator with partial-load operations is
of exhaust heat (Alibhai et al., 2004; Carlos & expected to frequently operate at low efficiency,
Hernandez, 2005; Abu-Sharkh et al., 2006). In and the power generation efficiency in total is
addition, an independent microgrid system (IMG: expected to be lower than that in existing large-
Independent Microgrid) that supplies electric scale electric power facilities. In this chapter, the
power and heat without interconnecting with power generation efficiency when constituting
other power systems realizes the advantages of a IMG from a distributed small diesel-engine power
distributed power source. It allows the construction generator is investigated by numerical analysis.
of a power supply system with low environmental The aim is to control the number of operations
impact that uses renewable energy including green of the distributed power generator, and raise the
energy and unused energy. Furthermore, since the load per power generator and decrease operation
energy transport distance of a microgrid is short, with a partial load, which has low efficiency.
it uses exhaust heat effectively. Therefore, overall The fall in the power generation efficiency is
efficiency is improved compared with conven- due to partial load and the transportation loss of
tional power generation systems. However, IMG exhaust heat decreases, so that the capacity of the
is required for the rapid dynamic characteristics power generator is reduced and the number of
216
distributions is increased. However, if the number Figure 25. The exhaust heat outputted with an
of power generators increases, the facility cost engine generator is engine-cooling water and
and the maintenance cost rise. Therefore, in this exhaust gas, and this heat is stored in a heat stor-
chapter, the relationship among the number of age tank through a heat exchanger. In addition,
diesel-engine power generators for distribution, the heat-transfer-medium heat exchanger for sup-
power generation efficiency and power cost is plying heat to a building is installed in the heat
investigated by numerical analysis. storage tank. After exchanging this heat transfer
medium for exhaust heat in the heat storage tank,
System Description it is supplied to a backup boiler. When there is a
large amount of exhaust heat compared with the
Independent Microgrid Configuration heat load, the excess exhaust heat is stored in the
heat storage tank. On the other hand, when the
The schematic figure of IMG constituted from the exhaust heat exceeds the heating storage capac-
engine generator assumed in this chapter is shown ity of the heat storage tank, the exhaust heat is
in Figure 24. An engine generator can be installed released from a radiator.
in arbitrary buildings. An engine generator con-
sists of a diesel engine and a synchronous power Control of the Number of Engine
generator. The power generated with the engine Generators
generator is supplied to each building through a
system interconnection device and IMG. An en- Figure 26 (a) shows the power generation effi-
gine generator can be installed in the machinery ciency model of the central system of an engine
room of another building besides the machinery generator, and Figure 26 (b) shows the power
room of each building. A system interconnection generation efficiency model of distribution. The
device also intermediates the connection of the model of Figure 26 (a) expresses the relation
load and IMG. The synchronization of the gener- between the power of an engine generator with a
ated alternating current power and the power of power generation capacity of 9 kW, and the load
IMG is controlled by a system interconnection factor and efficiency. Here, the ratio of production
device. of electricity to maximum production of electricity
The system configuration of the engine gen- is defined as the load factor. As shown in Figure
erator installed in each building is shown in 26 (a), the power generation efficiency in the
Figure 24. Diesel engine independent micro-grid system
217
Figure 25. Diesel engine co-generation system
Figure 26. Installed numbers of an engine generator, and efficiency model
218
case of corresponding to a 7.5 kW load with one experimental results obtained by operation of the
set (E/G (0)) of engine generators is 29%. The test equipment of Figure 27. The engine specifi-
load factor of the engine generator at this time cation of the cogeneration system of Figure 27 is
is 82%. The model of Figure 26 (b) is a model shown in Table 3. In addition, the specifications
of the power, the efficiency, and the load factor of a synchronous power generator are shown in
when installing three sets of engine generators Table 4. The fuel of the diesel engine is kerosene,
(E/G(1), E/G(2), E/G(3)) with a power generation and the engine has 2 cylinders with 4 cycles. The
capacity of 3 kW. The number of operations of a power generator is a single-phase synchronous
three-set engine generator is controlled, and it is type, and the power is transmitted from the power
operated so that the power load may be followed. axis of the diesel engine.
When the same load (7.5 kW) as Figure 26 (a)
is added, E/G (1) and E/G (2) are operated with Output Characteristics of a Small-Scale
a full load with high efficiency (respectively 3 Diesel Engine Cogeneration System
kW), and E/G (3) corresponds to the remaining
loads (1.5 kW). Since the load of E/G (3) is small, The heating value of the engine-cooling water,
E/G (3) is the operation of a partial load with the heating value of engine exhaust gas, and the
low efficiency. E/G (1) and E/G (2) of the load production of electricity are shown in Figure
factor of an engine generator are 100%, and E/G 28. If the kerosene fuel supplied to the engine is
(3) is 50%. If the power generation efficiency of increased, the production of electricity and the
the centralized system of Figure 26 (a) and the heating value of the exhaust gas increases, but
distributed system of Figure 26 (b) are compared, the heating value of the engine-cooling water
the distributed system may have a high load factor decreases. The kerosene supply heating value
per set, and the power generation efficiency in at the time of 3-kW maximum output is 9.8 kW.
total may become advantageous. Therefore, this Figure 29 shows the examination results of the
chapter investigates the difference in the power relation between the amount of kerosene fuel
generation efficiency of the centralized system of supplied to the engine cogeneration shown in
IMG and the distributed system. The maximum Figure 27, and the power and the exhaust heat
efficiency of a 9 kW commercial engine generator output power of the system. The hatched area
is high about 2% compared with a 3 kW engine in Figure 29 (Area A) is the area of the power
generator (Yanmar, 2006). And, although a 3 to where the exhaust heat is outputted only with the
20 kW engine generator is installed in the example engine generator, and the other areas (Area B)
reported in the case study below, the difference of are areas that include the heat output power in a
the maximum efficiency of an engine generator kerosene boiler in addition to the output power
is about 3% (Yanmar, 2006). In this chapter, the of Area A. Figure 30 shows the examination
difference in the efficiency due to engine generator results of the production of electricity and the
size is not taken into consideration. power generation efficiency of a diesel-engine
power generator, and the load factor and power
Diesel Engine Generator System generation efficiency. Although the engine
number of rotations was changed and examined
Engine Generator Specifications from 1440 rpm to 2000 rpm, the influence on
the power generation efficiency was small. An
The test equipment of the cogeneration system approximate expression of each examination
using a small-scale diesel engine is shown in result is shown in the figure. These approximate
Figure 27. The analysis of this chapter uses the expressions are used in the calculation of the
219
Figure 27. Test diesel engine co-generation system
Table 3. Engine specifications
220
Table 4. Generator specifications
Figure 28. Characteristics of diesel engine generator output. Engine number of revolutions is 1600rpm.
power generation efficiency of the case study. similarly. Then, similar to the relation between
In an engine generator of the same form, even the load factor and the power generation effi-
if the maximum engine production of electric- ciency of the engine generator used in the case
ity differs, the characteristics of load factor and study is managed without being dependent on
power generation efficiency can be managed the power generation capacity.
221
Figure 29. Fuel supply and energy output of engine generator. Engine number of revolutions is 1600rpm.
Area A corresponds to the condition in which only the engine-generator is working. Operating Area B
corresponds to the condition along which boiler is added to the engine-generator.
Figure 30. Diesel engine generator efficiency
222
Case Study ducing the load factor of each engine generator

into Figure 30. The characteristics of the heat of
Analysis Method the cooling water and the heat of the exhaust gas
of each engine generator are calculated as being
Figure 31 shows the analysis program of the model relatively the same as the experimental results of
that distributes two sets of engine generators, E/G Figure 28, even if the power generation capacity
(1) and E/G (2). Each block in Figure 31 expresses differs. In this chapter, the number of arrangements
a calculation component. Although E/G (1) is first of an engine generator is analyzed regarding the
operated in the analysis program, when the elec- model of 1 (central system: 18 kW, one set), 2
tricity demand exceeds the maximum production (9 kW, two sets), 4 (4.5 kW, four sets), and 6 (3
of electricity of E/G (1), E/G (2) is started further. kW, six sets). The calculation of power cost takes
E/G (2) is started on the basis of the If branch in the unit price of kerosene fuel. In this chapter,
Figure 31. Moreover, the production of electricity the kerosene cost in the U.S. is set as 409 $/m3,
in all the engine generators in operation is equal and the kerosene cost in Japan is set as 466 $/ m3
to the electricity demand, and an engine generator (Fuji Futures, 2005). Moreover, the conversion
that follows the power load is in operation. The rate of the dollar to the yen was set at 1 dollar =
power generation capacity of each engine generator 118 yen. The input-output characteristics of the
is inputted beforehand into the analysis program of power of IMG are analyzed using MATLAB (Ver.
Figure 31. Calculation of the fuel consumption, the 7.0) and Simulink (Ver. 6.0) of Math Work Co.
heating value of the cooling water, and the heating Ltd. Analysis error was managed within 0.01%.
value of the exhaust gas is performed using the
engine power characteristics shown in Figure 28. Weather Conditions in Sapporo
If an electricity demand pattern is inputted into an
analysis program and the number of operations The average temperatures in Sapporo for the
of an engine generator is controlled, the power sampling time on representative days in February,
generation efficiency can be obtained by intro- May, and August are shown in Figure 32 (National
Figure 31. Block diagram of analysis. Number of diesel-engine generator to be distributed is two.
223
Figure 32. External temperature model in Sapporo
Astronomical Observatory, (2003)). There is no month of an average house in Sapporo (Narita,

cooling load in the summer in Sapporo. Electric- K., (1996)). The electricity demand pattern
ity demand includes household appliances and does not change significantly each month.
electric lighting, and heat demand comes from This is because there is no cooling load in the
heating, hot water supply, and baths. The area summer and the exhaust heat and the heat of
of an average individual house (a 3- or 4-person the auxiliary boiler are supplied to a house as-
household) in Sapporo is 140 m2 with 2 stories, suming the heating load of winter. In the case
and the houses are made of wood. study, the load factor, the heating value of the
cooling water, the heating value of the exhaust
Energy Demand Models gas, the fuel consumption, and the power gen-
eration efficiency of each engine generator are
The power demand pattern of Figure 33 (a) is calculated using the electricity demand pattern
the measurement result of an individual house of the representative day shown in Figure 33
for representative days in February in Sapporo, (a). The analysis model of IMG connects and
Japan (Narita, K., (1996)). Moreover, Figure constitutes 20 houses of the electricity demand
33 (b) shows the heat demand pattern of each pattern of Figure 33 (a).
Figure 33. Average daily power and heat needs of a cold region house with traditional heating system space
224
Results and Discussion (c) is E/G (3), and Figure 34 (d) is E/G (4) and
E/G(6), operating in the 7:00 to 9:00 time zone,
Load Distribution of the and the 17:00 to 21:00 time zone, with a partial
Engine Generator load with low efficiency as shown in Figures 34
(b), (c), and (d). Although E/G (5) of Figure 34
Figure 34 shows the characteristics of the load (d) is operated in the 17:00 to 22:00 time zone,
added to each engine generator when distributing the load factor of E/G at this time (5) is 50% to
and arranging an engine generator and controlling 100%. Moreover, there is no operation in the other
the number of operations. In the central system, time zones. The 7:00 to 9:00 time zone and the
one set of engine generators with a power gen- 17:00 to 21:00 time zone show much higher fuel
eration capacity of 18 kW corresponds to the consumption compared with the time zones be-
load of all sampling times. On the other hand, fore and after each figure. The fuel consumption
in Figures 34 (b), (c), and (d), it corresponds to of an engine generator decreases in the order of
the load by controlling the number of operations Figures 35 (a), (b), (c), and (d). Therefore, the
of two sets, four sets, and six sets, respectively, fuel consumption resulted in a decrease, so that
of engine generators. As a result of analysis, the the number of distributions of the engine genera-
load of each E/G (1) of Figures 34 (b), (c), and tor increased.
(d) is the largest, and the load of E/G (2) is the
next largest. For example, in Figure 34 (c), E/G Output Characteristics of Each Engine
(1) is the maximum power at all sampling times, Generator
and the power of E/G (2) has an operating time
that is not the maximum output in the time zone Figure 36 shows the analysis results of the heat of
of midnight to 6 oclock in the morning, or the the engine-cooling water, the heat of the engine
time zone of 8:00 to 16:00. E/G (4) is operated exhaust gas, and the power generation of each
only in the time zone of 16:00 to 21:00. Using the engine generator for distribution. The heat of
method of controlling the number of operations as the engine-cooling water changes little, even if
in this case, E/G (1) shows the highest production it changes the power load sharply according to
of electricity, and this decreases in the order of the output characteristics of the engine generator
E/G (2), E/G (3), and E/G (4). shown in Figure 28. In the 7:00 to 9:00 time zone
of Figure 36 (b), the power generation of E/G
Number of Distributions, and Full Force (2) is 2 kW or less, and the load factor is 22% or
Power less. As a result, in the 7:00 to 9:00 time zone of
Figure 36 (b), the heat of the engine-cooling water
Figure 35 shows the number of engine genera- shows a large value as the output characteristics
tors for distribution, as well as the results of the of Figure 28 show. Therefore, if the demand char-
breakdown of the energy outputted at each sam- acteristics of the power and the heat in Sapporo
pling time with each engine generator. Compared shown in Figure 33 are taken into consideration
with the central system, fuel consumption on a and the engine generator operates from 23:00 to
representative day decreases in total by the system 5:00 with little electricity demand, a significant
shown in Figures 35 (b) to (d). However, in the amount of heat from the engine-cooling water
7:00 to 9:00 time zone, and 17:00 to 21:00 time can be obtained. It can prepare for the large heat
zone, there is little reduction in the fuel consump- demand at 6 oclock in the morning in winter
tion of the system of Figures 35 (b) to (d). The (January, March, and November) shown in Fig-
reason is that Figure 34 (b) is E/G (2), Figure 34 ure 33 (b) by storing this exhaust heat. Since the
225
Figure 34. Load of each engine generator
226
Figure 35. Installed numbers of an engine generator, and total input-output of power
227
Figure 36. Analysis results of energy output
228
relation between the power load and exhaust heat linked to IMG is taken into consideration, peri-
output is nonlinear, if the load distribution of each odically replacing the starting order of the engine
engine generator is controlled, an operation plan generator of E/G(1) to E/G(6) in Figures 37 (d-1)
fit for the demand pattern of power and heat may and (d-2) is required, for example.
be realizable. However, this chapter does not deal
with the supply and demand of heat. As for Figure Power Cost
36 (d-1), in the results of E/G (1) to E/G (3) of 6
system, (d-2) is the results of E/G (4) to E/G (6). Figure 38 shows the analysis results of expressing
the number of distributions of an engine generator,
Power Generation Efficiency and the consumption of fuel for power generation
on a representative day with the calorific power
Figure 37 shows the analysis results of the power of fuel. If the number of distributions of an en-
generation efficiency and the load factor of each gine generator increases as shown in the figure,
sampling time of an engine generator with arranged the fuel consumption will decrease. However,
distribution. The load factor of the central system when four distributions of an engine generator
is 28 to 89% of the range, and power generation are compared with six, the difference is 6%, and
efficiency changes from 13% in 28% of the range. even if the number of installations is further in-
On the other hand, E/G(1) of the analysis result creased, the reduction effect of fuel consumption
of the number of engine generators is 6 as shown shows slight improvement. If the facility cost and
in Figures 37 (d-1) and (d-2), is 100% of the load maintenance cost of an engine generator can be
factor at all sampling times. From 2 oclock to 5 estimated, the number of years required to recover
oclock in the morning, E/G (2) is a load factor costs is calculable from the reduction result of
of 70% or more. The load factor is 100% in other fuel consumption shown in Figure 38. However,
time zones. E/G (3) is 100% of the load factor in in order to determine the facility cost of an engine
the 6:00 to 9:00 time zone and the 16:00 to 23:00 generator, it is necessary to assume a particular
time zone. E/G (1) to E/G(3) all show an operation heat supply method, which is beyond the scope
pattern with a high load factor compared with the of this study. This chapter considers the number
central system. On the other hand, E/G (4) and E/G of engine generators for distribution, and the re-
(5) have a high load factor from 16:00 to night as lationship between the reduction of fuel cost and
shown in Figure 37 (d-2), but in other time zones, power generation.
the load factor is a low operation pattern. Regard- Figure 39 shows the analysis results of the
ing E/G (6), the operation of the load factor at a years of operation of IMG that distributes engine
maximum of 33% is only from 16:00 to 22:00, and generators, and the cost of the kerosene fuel used
the hours worked are short. If an engine generator for power generation. The years of operation were
is distributed and arranged, as Figures 37 (d-1) analyzed as 3, 5, 8 or 10 years. Moreover, since
and (d-2) show, the operating ratio of an engine the kerosene prices in the U.S. and Japan differed
generator will be distributed. If the efficiency of as described in previous section, they were ana-
an engine generator that has stopped is not taken lyzed using the average kerosene price of each
into consideration, the power generation efficiency country. An increase in the number of distributions
of the whole distribution system of an engine of an engine generator will reduce the cost of
generator is improved compared with the central kerosene consumption as shown in Figure 38. In
system. However, the engine generator stops, and particular, when the number of distributions of
an engine generator with short working hours an engine generator is 2, compared with the cen-
appears. If the life of the whole engine generator tral system, the decline is large, and there is a 27%
229
Figure 37. Analysis results of efficiency and load factor
230
Figure 38. Result of the relation between the installed number of an engine generator, and the fuel
consumption
Figure 39. Analysis results of the number of installations of an engine generator, and kerosene fuel cost
231
reduction in kerosene cost. If the number of engine facility cost of IMG, the maintenance cost, the
generators for distribution is increased, the cost cost of equipment of the heat system, etc. will
of the kerosene fuel used for power generation further reduce facility costs and maintenance costs
will decrease, but the ratio of the effect becomes per engine generator. Under the same conditions,
so insignificant that the number of engine gen- if the number of arrangements of an engine gen-
erators increases. If the rise in facility costs due erator is two sets, a cost reduction of the kerosene
to the increase in the number of installations of fuel of 33,400 dollars is predicted assuming op-
an engine generator is taken into consideration, eration for 8 years. The price per engine genera-
even if it determines the number of distributions tor is 16,700 dollars (33,400 dollars / two sets).
of an engine generator to be 2, a reduction in Table 5 is an example of the cost comparison
kerosene fuel cost is attained. when installing the proposed system in Japan.
Figure 40 shows the result of the reduction However, equipment cost, installation cost, and a
value when comparing the cost of the kerosene subsidy are included in the initial cost. The equip-
fuel when operating IMG for 1 year with the cost ment cost included in the initial cost was obtained
of kerosene fuel when operating IMG for 3, 5, 8, by referring to the data of business-use cogenera-
and 10 years. For example, when IMG comprises tion and gas-engine cogeneration (Yanmar, 2006;
four engine generators and it operates for 8 years Osaka Gas, 2006). Maintenance cost is decided
in the U.S., a cost reduction of the kerosene fuel by the installed number and capacity of an engine
of 43,000 dollars is predicted. Therefore, the price generator. Initial cost and Maintenance cost in
per engine generator is 10,750 dollars (43,000 Table 5 differ according to the product and the
dollars / four sets). However, considering the usage. If the number of installations of an engine
Figure 40. Analysis results of the number of installations of an engine generator, and the reduction value
of kerosene cost. Comparison with the operation cost for one year.
232
Table 5. Cost comparison
generator changes, the power generation capacity appears. If the life of the engine generator
of an engine generator will also change. Therefore, is taken into consideration, it is necessary
although it is necessary to take the difference in to replace the starting order of the engine
power generation capacity and the relationship of generator within a definite period.
the facility cost into consideration, the number of 2. The relationship between power generation
engine generators for distribution is expected to and the exhaust heat of an engine genera-
be 3 or 4 sets; the analysis results of Figure 39 tor is nonlinear. Therefore, operation fit for
and Table 5 provide the same prediction. the power and heat demand pattern may be
realizable by controlling the distribution of
Conclusions the load of the distributed engine generator.
3. There is a reduction in the fuel for power
The relation between the number of installations generation, so that there are many engine gen-
of an engine generator and the power generation erators distributed and arranged. However,
efficiency and the power generation cost was if the facility cost and maintenance of an
investigated by numerical analysis regarding the engine generator by distribution are taken
independent microgrid (IMG) that distributes into consideration, the number of installa-
small diesel-engine power generators. The fol- tions of an engine generator would be 3 or
lowing conclusions were obtained. 4 sets.
1. If the engine generator linked to IMG is dis- The fall in power generation efficiency at
tributed and arranged, the power generation the time of partial load operation of IMG was a
efficiency of the whole system will improve problem. This chapter proposes a more efficient
compared with the central system. However, method of IMG with load fluctuation. Application
an engine generator with short hours worked of IMG using renewable energy is also considered.
233
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235
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
E/G : Engine generator

IMG : Independent microgrid
Eeg : Power of an engine generator [kW]
Reg : Load factor [%]
eg : Generation efficiency [%]
236
237
Chapter 8
Characteristics of PEFC /
Woody Biomass Engine Hybrid
Microgrid and Exergy Analysis
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of three sections, Dynamic Characteristics of PEFC / Woody Biomass Engine
Hybrid Microgrid, Exergy Analysis of the Woody Biomass Stirling Engine and PEFC Combined System
with Exhaust Heat Reforming and Exergy Analysis of A Regional Distributed PEM Fuel Cell System.
The chapter describes the exhaust heat of the combustion of woody biomass engine using a Stirling
cycle that was used for the city gas reforming reaction of a PEFC system. The response characteristic
of PEFC and woody biomass engine is investigated by the experiment and numerical analysis. Finally, a
combined system that uses the exhaust heat of the woody biomass Stirling engine for the steam reforming
of city gas and that supplies the produced reformed gas to a PEFC is proposed.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION microgrid system that introduces PEFC / woody

biomass engine hybrid cogeneration (PWHC) is
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. The proposed. It depends on the dynamic character-
combustion exhaust heat of woody biomass engine istics of the grid for the power quality at the time
using Stirling cycle is a high temperature. This of load fluctuation being added to the microgrid.
exhaust heat is used for the city gas reforming Especially, the dynamic characteristics of the
reaction of a PEFC system. The woody biomass independent microgrid are important on security
engine generator has the characteristic that the of power quality. So, in this study, the response
greenhouse gas amount of emission with power characteristic of PEFC and woody biomass en-
generation is greatly reducible. In this study, the gine was investigated by the experiment and the
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch008
Characteristics of PEFC / Woody Biomass Engine Hybrid Microgrid
numerical analysis. Furthermore, the response 263K to 313K, the difference of the total efficiency
characteristic of the PWHC independent microgrid of the proposed system was 6%. On the other hand,
including auxiliary machinery was investigated by the difference of the exergy total efficiency of the
the numerical simulation. Moreover, an improve- same temperature range was 30%. Moreover, as
ment of dynamic characteristics is proposed using a result of examining how to improve the exergy
the method of adding proportional-plus-integral efficiency of this system, certain improvement
control to PWHC. If woody biomass engine is methods were proposed. (a) Preheat the city-gas
introduced into a house, 10.2s will be required and air supplied to the system using exhaust heat,
to stabilize power quality at the maximum. On and raise the combustion temperature, (b) Preheat
the other hand, when woody biomass engine cor- the water supplied to the system using exhaust
responds to a base load and PEFC corresponds heat, (c) Change the catalyst material of each unit
to the load exceeding the base load, settling time and reduce the amount of cooling of the reformed
is less than 1.6 s. In this study, relation between gas, (d) Examination of combined cycle power
the system configuration of the PWHC microgrid generation. The exergy efficiency, in the case of
and the dynamic characteristics of the power was introducing the proposed system into individual
clarified. homes in Sapporo, Tokyo, and Kagoshima, was
The summary of the 2nd section is as follows. evaluated. Consequently, when the system was
The woody biomass Stirling engine (WB-SEG) introduced into a community with low outside
is an external combustion engine that outputs air temperatures, exergy efficiency increased
high-temperature exhaust gases. It is necessary compared with communities with high outside
to improve the exergy efficiency of WB-SEG air temperatures.
from the viewpoint of energy cascade utilization.
So, a combined system that uses the exhaust heat
of WB-SEG for the steam reforming of city gas DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
and that supplies the produced reformed gas to a OF PEFC / WOODY BIOMASS
PEFC is proposed. The energy flow and the exergy ENGINE HYBRID MICROGRID
flow were analyzed for each WB-SEG, PEFC,
and WB-SEG / PEFC combined system. Exhaust Introduction
heat recovery to preheat fuel and combustion air
was investigated in each system. As a result, (a) If the microgrid is introduced into an urban area, it
improvement of the heat exchange performance will be expected that the energy cost of a distributed
of the woody biomass combustion gas and engine power supply and emission of greenhouse gas can
is observed, (b) Reduction in difference in the be reduced. Authors investigated until now about
reaction temperature of each unit, and (c) removal the operating method that connects distributed
of rapid temperature change of reformed gas are proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEFC) in
required in order to reduce exergy loss of the a power network, and cooperates (Obara, 2006a;
system. The exergy efficiency of the WB-SEG Obara, 2006b). Although generation efficiency
/ PEFC combined system is superior to PEFC. of a PEFC is high, greenhouse gas discharges by
The summary of the 3rd chapter is as follows. the reforming reaction of city gas. On the other
The exergy flow and exergy efficiency of a 3kW hand, micro combined heat and power (micro-
PEFC were investigated, and the regional charac- CHP) using a small-scale Stirling engine generator
teristic of the distributed energy system was con- (SEG) is examined in U.K. as an energy system
sidered. In the environmental temperature range of for individual houses (Peacock & Newborough,
238
2007; Hawkes & Leach, 2007). By using woody System Scheme

biomass so that carbon dioxide may circulate, the
greenhouse gas amount of emission of a power Hybrid Microgrid
generation system can be decreased. Therefore,
introduction of SEG using woody biomass is Figure 1 (a) shows the model of the independent
effective in emission control of greenhouse gas microgrid that introduces two-set PWHC (PWHC
(De Ruyck et al., 2007; Bonnet, Alaphilippe, & (1) in House (1), and PWHC (2) in House (5)).
Stouffs, 2005; Obara, 2006c). However, compared The microgrid of this model consists of eight
with an internal combustion engine or a fuel cell, buildings of House (1) to House (8). Heat supply
the conventional SEG has subjects in generation of the exhaust heat of PWHC, a heat storage tank,
efficiency, volume efficiency, equipment cost, etc. a boiler is separated into the group of House (1) to
The energy supply system using the microgrid can House (4), and the group of House (5) to House
reduce equipment cost compared with the method (8). The power of two-set PWHC is supplied to
of introducing generating equipment into each each building through the power grid. The system
house. Moreover, the energy equipment linked to interconnection device is installed in the contact
the microgrid can cooperate, for example on the point of PWHC and a power grid. Moreover, the
minimization object of a greenhouse gas amount power of PWHC is changed into 100V and 50Hz
of emission. So, in this section, the dynamic with an inverter. On the other hand, the exhaust
characteristics of the power of the independent heat of PWHC, the heat of a heat storage tank, and
microgrid using hybrid cogeneration (PWHC) a boiler is supplied to each building through hot
of PEFC and SEG using woody biomass are water pipings (1) and (2). However, examination
investigated. It depends for the control response of this study is limited to the dynamic character-
characteristic of SEG on engine structure, the istics of the power for the microgrid, and is not
configuration of the combustion chamber, the managed about the heat system.
heat transmission characteristic of the heat source, Figure 1 (b) shows the energy flow and
etc. Until now, optimization of the combustion chemical reaction of each component of the pro-
chamber configuration and the heat transmission posed system. Chip fuel is supplied to woody
characteristic of combustion gas are investigated biomass engine (SEG), and power is transmitted
(Ozeki, 1991; Eguchi, & Kurosawa, 1988). Com- to an alternating current synchronous power gen-
monly, the power-demand pattern of a house erator. The heat output of SEG is the high-tem-
or an apartment house consists of many peaks perature exhaust gas of the combustion chamber,
changed for a short time. Since such power load and engine-cooling hot water. Moreover, as the
is followed, a rapid control response characteristic heat output of PEFC, there is fuel cell stack exhaust
is required of generating equipment. In order to heat and reformer exhaust heat. In the proposed
manage the power quality of the microgrid, it is system, the combustion chamber high-temperature
necessary to clarify the dynamic characteristics exhaust gas of SEG is supplied to the heat ex-
of the power with load fluctuation. So, in this changer of the reformer. With a catalyst in the
section, the dynamic characteristics of the PWHC reformer, city gas is changed into reformed gas
microgrid are clarified by a numerical analysis with a high hydrogen concentration with a reaction
using the results of an investigation of the SEG temperature of 970 K to 1070 K using this exhaust
test machine and PEFC. heat. Reformer exhaust heat is the remaining heat
239
Figure 1. Outline of the proposed system and operation method
240
after providing heat to the catalyst through the Consequently, the combustion chamber is con-
heat exchanger. In the case study, exhaust heat nected with the engine by a buffer duct so that
that can be supplied to the demand side is taken the vibration of the engine does not spread to
as the reformer exhaust heat and SEG cooling the combustion chamber. The exhaust gas of the
water. Moreover, the demand side is supplied combustion chamber is discharged from the
after changing the power of SEG and PEFC into system through a duct. The quantity of heat of
an alternating current of constant frequency. the exhaust gas QEx and cooling water QEy is
obtained from the value of the temperature sen-
Outline of Testing SEG sor and the flow meter by calculating the trans-
port volume of enthalpy. Moreover, the amount
Table 1 and Table 2 are the operating conditions of heat radiation on the combustion chamber
and specifications of SEG and the power genera- surface (QEz ) is measured by heat flow rate sen-
tor that are examined in this section. Although
sor q , and the heat-medium pressure is measured
the maximum output of SEG is 3.7 kW, the
using sensor Pg .
maximum power load examined according to
restrictions of combustion chamber capacity, etc. Figure 1 (d) shows the experimental results of
is 1.6 kW. Figure 1 (c) is a general view of the the energy flow of the test SEG. The energy flow
test equipment. Chip fuel (woody biomass) is fed is separated into auxiliary machinery loss, cooling
into the hopper of the combustion chamber. Chips water quantity of heat, exhaust gas quantity of
are mixed with air preheated before entering the heat, production of electricity and other losses.
combustion chamber. The rate of feed of chip fuel Other losses of the energy flow are mechanical
is controllable by the fuel feed system installed loss of radiation of heat and friction of SEG, vi-
in the lower part of the hopper. Power is transmit- bration, etc. Other losses decrease, so that the
ted to the power generator shown in Table 2 by a production of electricity of SEG is large. The
belt from the power shaft of SEG. Since the test power generation efficiency of SEG improves by
SEG is a single cylinder, its vibration is large. reducing other losses that hold a large part of the
energy flow at the time of low load. The quantity
of exhaust gas heat holds the largest part in the
Table 1. SEG specification energy flow, and it is always large compared to
the cooling water quantity of heat. Since there is
large exhaust gas heat, the development of a
compound cycle of operating a steam turbine us-
ing the high-temperature exhaust gas of SEG, for
example, is possible. Auxiliary machinery loss
holds very few parts in the whole energy flow.
Microgrid System Operating Method
Table 2. Power generator specification Figure 1 (e) shows the PWHC operation model
in a representation day. In this operation pattern,
SEG is operated in a range smaller than the base
load set up beforehand. In addition to SEG, PEFC
is operated in a larger load range than the base
load. When a load exceeds the base load, SEG
241
can be operated at a maximum efficiency point. of each equipment. So, in this section, the transfer
However, when a load is less than the base load, function and control parameters of PEFC, SEG, an
load following operation is required of SEG. inverter, and a system interconnection device in
Figure 2 are determined by the method described
Control Response Characteristics to following sections.
of PEFC and SEG The transient response characteristics of the
power output of the SEG, PEFC, auxiliary machine
1. Control Block Diagram and PWHC microgrid are analyzed by MATLAB
Figures 2 (a) and (b) are the block diagram of the (Ver.7.0) / Simulink (Ver.6.0) of Math Work. In
feedback control on the microgrid by SEG and the solver to be used, the Runge-Kutta method
PEFC, respectively. Proportional-plus-integral is installed, and the sampling time of analysis is
control (PI control) is introduced into control of calculated automatically and decided so that error
each system. PEFC and SEG are controlled by may be less than 0.1%.
the controller. Each controller is controlled based
on the PI control parameters ( P and I ) set up 2. Response Characteristic of PEFC
beforehand. The power generated by SEG and Table 3 is a result of the transfer function in-
PEFC is supplied to the demand side through an vestigated by the last study about the fuel cell
inverter and a system interconnection device. The stack, the reformer, the inverter, and the system
transfer functions of each equipment shown in interconnection device (Obara, 2006; Zhang et al.,
Figures 2 (a) and (b) describes the determination 2004). The transfer function of the fuel cell stack
method in following sections. was determined from the experimental result, and
The control block diagram in the case of one- the transfer function of other equipment is decided
set SEG operating corresponding to a base load, from references (Zhang et al., 2004; Sedghisigar-
and corresponding to the load exceeding the base chi, 2004; Hamelin et al., 2001; Yerramalla, et al.,
load by one-set PEFC is Figure 2 (c). SEG sup- 2003; Oda et al., 1999; Takeda et al., 2004; Ibe,
plies the power to the load below the base load 2002; Koike et al., 1999; Kyoto Denkiki, 2001).
set up beforehand. PEFC is also operated when In the further last study, it is investigating also
the load of the microgrid exceeds the base load. about the optimal value of the parameters of the
The control block diagram in the case of one-set PI control introduced into the controller of PEFC.
PEFC operating corresponding to the base load, The transfer function and control parameters on
and corresponding to the load exceeding the base PEFC of the control block diagram shown in
load by one-set SEG is Figure 2 (d). Figure 2 introduce each value of Table 3.
The control block diagram of the PWHC Figure 3 (a) shows the result of the step response
microgrid in the case of one-set SEG operation of 0.2kW, 0.4kW, 0.6kW, 0.8kW, 1.0kW of PEFC
corresponding to the base load, and corresponding with a reformer (Obara, 2006; Obara & Kudo,
to the load exceeding the base load with multiple 2007). In the analysis of Figure 3 (a), the control
generators is Figure 2 (e). In Figure 2 (e), SEG block diagram of Figure 2 (b) was used. The
(1) operates corresponding to the base load, and control parameter with short settling time and
operates SEG (2), PEFC (1), and PEFC (2) accord- small overshooting was investigated by numerical
ing to the magnitude of a load. When supplying analysis, and P = 12.0 and I = 1.0 were de-
the power to the microgrid from the combined cided. The response time of a system when con-
cycle system, the dynamic characteristics of the verging on 5% of a target value is defined as
microgrid are decided with the transfer functions settling time.
242
Figure 2. Control block diagram of power supply
243
Table 3. Transfer function of a power output

3. Response Characteristics of SEG
Figure 3 (b) shows the experimental result of the
step response of 0.2kW, 0.4kW, 0.6kW, 0.8kW,
1.0kW of Testing SEG. As shown in Figure 3 (b),
the step response of Testing SEG has large over-
shooting, and its settling time is long compared
with PEFC. The heat transmission characteristics
between the combustion gas of a chip and the
heat exchanger of SEG is considered to influence
settling time greatly. However, it is difficult to
Figure 3. Step response of PEFC and SEG
244
improve the rate of heat transfer of the combus- Result of Dynamic Characteristics
tion gas of a chip, so that the load fluctuation of Analysis of PWHC Microgrid
the power can be followed. So, in order to shorten
the settling time of SEG as much as possible and Power Response
to reduce overshooting, PI control is added to Characteristic of PWHC
operating of SEG.
Figure 3 (c) shows the example as a result of 1 kW PWHC microgrid consists of 0.5 kW SEG
a step response obtained in the operating experi- and 0.5 kW PEFC. Figure 5 shows the analysis
ment of SEG (Figure 1 (d)). The model of the result of the step response of 0.2 kW, 0.4 kW, 0.6
transfer function that simulated this step response kW, 0.8 kW, 1.0 kW of this system. Results in
is shown in Figure 3 (c). The settling time of case SEG corresponds to the base load and PEFC
Testing SEG exceeds 10 s. Therefore, when SEG follows the fluctuating load exceeding the base
is operated so that fluctuating load may be fol- load are Figures 5 (a) and (b). The control block
lowed, the unstable time of voltage and a fre- diagram used in the analysis in Figures 5 (a) and
quency is long. Figure 4 shows the analysis result (b) is Figure 2 (c). However, the value in Figure
of a step response when adding PI control to the 3 (a) ( P = 12.0 and I = 1.0 ) and Figure 4 (
system using the transfer function in Figure 3 (c). P = 0.1 and I = 0.001 ) was used for the control
The control block diagram used in this analysis parameter of the analysis in Figure 5 (a). The
is Figure 2 (a), and the control parameters of SEG speed of response of PEFC shown in Figure 3 (a)
introduced P = 0.1 and I = 0.001 . Moreover, is quick compared with the speed of response of
a response result in case there is no PI control is SEG shown in Figure 4. From the difference in
also shown in Figure 4. Settling time becomes this speed of response, as shown in the step re-
short by adding PI control to SEG, and an over- sponse of 0.8kW and 1.0kW in Figure 5 (a), the
shoot does not appear. For example, the settling response of a quick response part and a late re-
time of the 2kW step response that does not use sponse part appears. Consequently, the control
PI control is about 16 s. However, if PI control is parameters of PEFC with a quick speed of response
added, it will improve at about 6 s. are changed, and an improvement of the response
Figure 4. Step response results of 2 kW SEG model
245
Figure 5. Step response results of 1 kW PWHC
characteristics of the PWHC microgrid is tried. Figure 5 (d) shows the response characteristics at
Figure 5 (b) shows the response characteristics at the time of changing the control parameters of
the time of changing the control parameters of PEFC into P = 0.95 and I = 1.1 . These control
PEFC into P = 0.95 and I = 1.1 . These control parameters were decided by trial and error. Com-
parameters were decided by trial and error. Two pared with the response of Figure 5 (c), the re-
response parts, 0.8kW and 1.0kW in Figure 5 (a), sponse of Figure 5 (d) has small overshooting,
have improved. and its settling time is short.
Step response results in case PEFC corresponds
to the base load and SEG follows the fluctuating Response Characteristics of
load exceeding the base load are Figures 5 (c) and SEG and PEFC Microgrid Using
(d). In the analysis in Figures 5 (c) and (d), the Power Load Pattern for Houses
control block diagram shown in Figure 2 (d) was
used. In Figure 5 (c), the control parameters of 1. Response Result of SEG
PEFC are P = 12.0 and I = 1.0 , and the control The response characteristics in the case of sup-
parameters of SEG are P = 0.1 and I = 0.001 . plying the power to the microgrid from SEG or
Since the over shoot of the response shown in PEFC are investigated. However, the power load
Figure 5 (c) is large, the control parameters of pattern added to the microgrid assumes two houses
PEFC is changed and an improvement is tried. on February representative day in Sapporo. The
246
power load pattern consists of time average values ously, this rising error does not exist. Figure 6 (c)
of the load consumed by the household appliances shows the analysis result of time period for the
and electric lights. Space cooling and heating error of the load and the response to exceed 5%.
loads are not included in this power load pattern. Accordingly, the results of Figure 6 (c) express
Therefore, the power load pattern does not have settling times. The settling time when installing
a large difference at every month. SEG into the microgrid from the result of Figure
Figure 6 shows the analysis result of a load 6 (c) is 10.2 s at the maximum. When the microgrid
response at the time of supplying the power to the is composed from SEG, the unstable period of
microgrid using 2 kW SEG. The control block voltage and a frequency is 10.2 s at the maximum.
diagram used in the analysis of Figure 6 is Figure
2 (a). Moreover, the control parameters of SEG 2. Response Result of PEFC
are P = 0.1 and I = 0.001 as well as Figure 4. Figure 7 shows the analysis result of a load re-
The horizontal axis of Figure 6 is the representa- sponse at the time of installing 2 kW PEFC into
tive time of analysis. Real time is also displayed the microgrid. The control block diagram used in
on the horizontal axis of Figure 6. Since the cal- the analysis of Figure 7 is Figure 2 (b). The con-
culation time is enormously long, real-time trol parameters set up with the controller are
analysis is performed by shortening real time to P = 12.0 and I = 1.0 as well as Figure 3 (a).
1/180 in this section. Figure 6 (a) shows the result The settling time in case PEFC composes the
of a load input and the system response, and microgrid from the result of Figure 7 (c) is 1.6 s
Figure 6 (b) shows the result of the error of a load or less. However, rising parts are excluded. The
input and a response. As for the broken-line part power supply due to PEFC has a short settling
shown in Figure 6 (b), the error of the load and time compared with SEG. Therefore, the dy-
the response is over 5%. A large rising error namic characteristic of the power of PEFC mi-
occurs immediately after 0:00 in Figure 6 (b). crogrid is good compared with SEG microgrid.
Actually, since the system is operated continu-
Figure 6. Dynamic characteristics analysis results of the microgrid at the time of installing the power
demand model of two houses in Sapporo. The power is supplied to the grid from 2 kW SEG of one. SEG
of P=0.1 and I=0.001.
247
demand model of two houses in Sapporo. The power is supplied to the grid from 2 kW PEFC of one.
PEFC of P=12.0 and I=1.0.
Response Characteristics of PWHC response of the microgrid composed from one-set

Microgrid Using Power Load Pattern for of 2 kW SEG and two-set of 2.5 kW PEFC. Eight
Houses houses are connected to the microgrid. This sys-
tem was analyzed by modifying the control block
Figure 8 shows the analysis result of a load re- shown in Figure 2 (e). The control parameters set
sponse of the microgrid composed from 8 kW up with the controller of PEFC are P = 12.0 and
PWHC. Eight houses are connected to the mi- I = 1.0 , and SEG are P = 0.1 and I = 0.001 .
crogrid. Woody biomass engine generators in- The error-analysis result shown in Figure 8 (b)
stalled into the microgrid are 2 kW SEG (1) and and Figure 9 (b) shows the well alike profile.
2 kW SEG (2), in addition install 2 kW PEFC (1) However, as shown in Figure 9 (c), the settling
and 2 kW PEFC (2). Moreover, the control block time of the microgrid becomes very short com-
diagram used in the analysis of Figure 8 is Figure pared with Figure 8 (c). The system of Figure 9
2 (e). The control parameters set up with the is the PWHC microgrid stabilized dynamically.
controller of PEFC are P = 0.95 and I = 1.1
as well as Figure 5 (d), and SEG are P = 0.1 and Conclusions
I = 0.001 . Since the speed of response of SEG
is slow, the dynamic characteristics of SEG (2) The load response characteristics were inves-
have large influence on the microgrid. It is because tigated using the testing Stirling engine power
SEG (2) is followed and operated to load fluc- generator (SEG) that uses woody biomass as a
tuations. As a result, a settling time becomes long fuel. The transfer function was determined from
as shown in Figure 8 (c). Consequently, installa- these results and the dynamic characteristics of
tion of SEG shall be one set corresponding to the the power of the microgrid composed from SEG
base load. And about the load exceeding the base were investigated. Moreover, hybrid cogeneration
load, it corresponds by installing two-set PEFC. (PWHC) that uses the combustion exhaust heat of
Figure 9 shows the analysis results of the load SEG for the heat source of the reformer of PEFC
248
demand model of teight houses in Sapporo. The power is supplied to the grid from 2 kW SEG of two sets
and 2 kW PEFC of two sets. PEFC of P=0.95 and I=1.1, and SEG of P=0.1 and I=0.001.
demand model of teight houses in Sapporo. The power is supplied to the grid from 2 kW SEG of one set
and 5 kW PEFC of two sets. PEFC of P=12.0 and I=1.0, and SEG of P=0.1 and I=0.001.
249
was proposed. The dynamic characteristics of the addition, the detail of the greenhouse gas emis-
power when composing the microgrid from this sion characteristic and economic evaluation of
PWHC were investigated by numerical analysis. the proposed system is reported independently.
And, the control parameters installed into each
controller of SEG and PEFC were examined
from the results of numerical analysis. The load EXERGY ANALYSIS OF THE WOODY
response characteristics of the microgrid using BIOMASS STIRLING ENGINE AND
PWHC were investigated, and the following PEFC COMBINED SYSTEM WITH
Conclusions were obtained. EXHAUST HEAT REFORMING
1. The settling time of the SEG microgrid for Introduction

the power supply to houses exceeds 10 s at
the maximum. Therefore, in SEG indepen- Utilization of woody biomass is discussed from
dent microgrid, voltage and a frequency may the view of the environmental problem (Qian et
often be instability in a long time. al., 2007; Rhen et al., 2007; Jianbang & Smith,
2. The microgrid composed from PEFC has a 2006). In Japan, the utilization as a woody bio-
short settling time at the time of load fluctua- mass fuel of thinned wood or building scrap
tion compared with the power supply due to wood is investigated. Authors are evaluating the
SEG. Therefore, the dynamic characteristics test Stirling engine (WB-SEG) that burns these
of the power of the PEFC microgrid are good woody biomasses directly (Obara et al., 2007).
compared with SEG. The theoretical thermal efficiency of a Stirling
3. The microgrid system that combined base- cycle is higher than a Diesel cycle at heat for the
load operation of SEG and the load follow- same input temperature level. However, in actual
ing operation of PEFC was proposed. The WB-SEG, the heat transmission control between
settling time of the proposal microgrid with combustion gas and the engine is difficult and heat
eight houses is 1.6 s or less. The microgrid supply temperature are limited (Obara et al., 2007).
that installs the proposed system is stable, In the experiment, the heat released down stream
and there are few amounts of emission of of the engine represents at least 60% in total loss
greenhouse gas. (Obara et al., 2007). Concerning the exergy effi-
ciency of an energy system, loss in the combustor
There are waveform distortion of a higher har- is large (Taniguchi & Ishida, 2005). Therefore,
monic wave (about 10-4 to 10-2 seconds), voltage the high-temperature heat released when woody
fluctuation (about 10-2 to 100 second), frequency biomass needs to be used effectively for utiliza-
change (about 100 to 102 seconds) and an overvolt- tion of WB-SEG. However, when such release
age / undervoltage (about 102 seconds or more) is used for space heating and hot water supply, it
as dynamic characteristics that should be secured is not effective from the view of energy cascade
concerning the power supply of the independent utilization. So, in this study, the combined system
microgrid. In this section, the influence of a period of WB-SEG and PEFC is proposed. There are
about longer than a voltage fluctuation grade (10-2 very few reports of research regarding the WB-
seconds) was investigated. Waveform distortion of SEG and PEFC combined system (Obara & Itaru
a higher harmonic wave is an important subject, Tanno, 2007). The study on the complex system
and reports a detail by the following report. In of a fuel cell and an engine is uncivilizedness,
250
and the example of the system especially using a shown in Figure 10 (c) are introduced into this
Stirling cycle is few. The burning exhaust heat of analysis. These output characteristics were taken
WB-SEG is used for the heat source of a steam by examining an engine of the specification shown
generator (vaporizer), and a reforming unit for in Figure 10 (b). The heat of each test WB-SEG
steam reforming of city gas in this system. The was calculated using the following equations.
exhaust heat of each unit can be used for preheat- Equation (1) is the heat of the woody biomass
ing of fuel and combustion air in this system. fuel supplied to the engine. Equations (2) and
However, low-temperature exhaust heat, such as (3) are the heat of the engine-cooling water and
engine cooling water of WB-SEG and cell stack combustion gas, respectively. Equation (4) is the
exhaust heat of PEFC, is used for space heating heat discharge of the combustor.
and hot water supply. There are many methods
to optimize the leading the different efficiency qb = Lb Vf (1)
level. In the WB-SEG / PEFC combined system,
because PEFC is operated using the exhaust heat
of WB-SEG, exergy efficiency should improve. qw = w C w tw Vw (2)
Therefore, in this study, the energy flow and the
exergy flow are investigated in both of WB-SEG, qa = a C a ta Va (3)
PEFC, and the WB-SEG / PEFC combined system
including preheating of fuel and combustion air.
qrm = K Arm trm (4)
System Configuration
PEFC with a City Gas Reformer
Stirling Engine Generator
1. Reformed Gas System
Figure 10 (a) is the block diagram of WB-SEG. Figure 11 (a) is the block diagram of PEFC with
Woody biomass fuel (chips) and combustion air a city gas reformer. The composition of city gas
are supplied to the combustor. A heat exchanger is is considered to be CH4 in this analysis. Figure
introduced and this is exchangeable for the heat of 11 (b) shows the reaction temperature of each unit
the exhaust gas. The heat generated in the combus- of the reforming system and the gas concentration.
tor is supplied to the engine heat exchanger. As City gas and combustion air are supplied to the
exhaust heat, there is exhaust gas from burning combustor. Heat is supplied to the vaporizer and
and engine-cooling water. The heat of the engine- the reforming unit using the combustion gas of
cooling water is supplied to a heat storage tank, the combustor. The city gas and water for reform-
and can be supplied to the demand side with a ing are supplied to the vaporizer. In the reforming
time shift. On the other hand, the combustion unit, there is H2, CO, and the steam occurring by
gas can select preheating of the biomass fuel and the steam reforming of city gas. In the shifter unit,
the combustion air, or supply to the heat storage CO2 and H2 are generated from CO and steam.
tank. As shown in Figure 10 (b), engine power is Some CO contained in the reformed gas is reduced
transmitted to the power generator using a belt. by 10 ppm or less by CO oxidation reaction. This
The power outputted with the power generator is reformed gas is supplied to the anode of the cell
converted into a regular frequency by the inverter, stack. Among H2 in the reformed gas supplied to
and supplies stable voltage power and frequency the fuel cell, utilization rate rce is used for power
to the grid. The output characteristics of WB-SEG
251
Figure 10. Block diagram of WB-SEG
252
Figure 11. Proposed PEFC system
253
generation. H2 that is not used for power genera- E s

sc = (6)
tion is supplied to the combustor, and is used for ((m gc
+ m gv ) LCH
4
)
vaporization of water and the heat source of the
reforming reaction.
WB-SEG / PEFC Combined System
2. Heat System
Exhaust heat is outputted from the vaporizer, the 1. Block Diagram
reforming unit, the shifter unit, the CO oxidation Figure 12 (a) is a block diagram of the combined
unit, and the cell stack. The high-temperature ex- system of WB-SEG and PEFC. Moreover, the
haust heat of the reforming unit, the shifter unit, chemical reaction and efficiency of each unit
and the CO oxidation unit is used for preheating are shown in Figure 12 (b). Woody biomass and
the fuel (CH4 for burning and CH4 for reforming), combustion air are supplied to the combustor unit.
the water for reforming, and the combustion air. Moreover, city gas and water are supplied to the
Whether the exhaust heat of the reforming unit, vaporizer unit. The combustion gas of the woody
the shifter unit, and CO oxidation unit is used for biomass is first given to the Stirling engine, and
preheating of the fuels, etc., or whether a heat stor- the exhaust heat is supplied to the vaporizer unit
age tank is supplied can be selected. In fact, the and the reforming unit. The exhaust heat of the
distribution rate of the exhaust heat of preheating reforming unit, the shifter unit, and the CO oxida-
and thermal storage can be determined arbitrarily. tion unit can select supplying preheating of the
However, in this chapter, all the high-temperature biomass fuel, combustion air, CH4 for reforming
exhaust heat is used for preheating, or all of it is and water, or storing in the heat storage tank. The
stored in the heat storage tank. On the other hand, power of the engine generator and the fuel cell is
the exhaust heat of the vaporizer and the cell stack converted into alternating current power of con-
is always supplied to the heat storage tank. stant frequency, and is supplied to the power grid.
3. Output Characteristics of the Cell Stack 2. Chemical Reaction and Efficiency

Figure 11 (c) shows the output characteristics The chemical reaction, the efficiency, and the
taken from a single cell experiment (Mikkola M., molar flow rate of each unit of the WB-SEG /
(2001), Ibaraki Prefecture Government Office of PEFC combined system are shown in Figure 12
Education, (2002)). The single cell shown in Figure (a). In the next section, the energy flow and the
11 (c) is built up, and the cell stack is composed. exergy flow are calculated from the input-output
The number of cells of the cell stack decides that and efficiency of each unit.
the generation efficiency of the maximum output
point becomes the maximum. Figure 11 (d) shows Analysis Method
the relation of the load factor and efficiency of the
city gas reformer and PEFC to the city gas reformer Energy Flow of the WB-SEG /
(Mikkola M., (2001), Ibaraki Prefecture Govern- PEFC Combined System
ment Office of Education, (2002), Oda K, et al.,
(1999)). The reformer efficiency and generating The conditions used for analysis of the system are
efficiency of the PEFC system were calculated shown in Table 4. Analysis of the energy flow
using Equations (5) and (6), respectively. and the exergy flow is calculated under standard
conditions (25 degrees Celsius, 0.1 MPa). A
qlhv,H lower calorific value is used for fuel heat. Equa-
r = 2
(5) tions (7) to (12) are the energy balance equations
((m gc
+ m gv ) LCH
4
) of each unit. h in each equation expresses en-
254
Figure 12. WB-SEG/PEFC combined system
255
Table 4. Analysis parameters
thalpy. H and E express heat and power, respec- Shifter Unit:

tively. The left-hand side of each equation ex-
presses power input, and the right-hand side m re hre + H sa = m se hse + H s (10)
expresses output.
CO Oxidation Equipment Unit:
Combustor Unit:
m se hse + m ca hca + H cr = m ce hce + H c
m wb hwb + m ga hga + m fe h fe
(7) (11)
+H cb = m br hbr + H rb + H si
Cell Stack:
Vaporizer Unit:
m ce hce + m fa h fa + H fr =
(12)
m gv hgv + m rw hrw H va m fe h fe + H fe + f E f
(8)
+H v = m ve hve + H vo
Equation (13) is the energy balance equation
Reformer Unit: of the system. The left-hand side expresses
power input terms, and the right-hand side ex-
m ve hve H ra + H r = m re hre + H ro (9) presses output terms. n and m in this equation
are the number of units inputted and outputted,
256
respectively. H sys and E sys of the right-hand side second term expresses the heat output, the third
express the heat output and the power output of term expresses the power output, and the last term
the system, respectively. Moreover, the generation expresses exergy loss.
efficiency of the system is calculated using Equa-
n
tion (14). qlhv,wb in this equation expresses the m in ,i (
ein ,i + 1 T0 Tin H in = )
calorific value of the woody biomass. i =1
m
n m j =1
(
m out, j eout, j + 1 T0 Tout H out + E + I )
m in ,i
hin ,i = m out , j hout , j
(13)
(17)
i =1 j =1
+H sys + E sys ,1 + E sys ,2 + H loss + E loss
Equations (18) to (23) are exergy balance ex-
pressions of each unit. The left-hand side of each
E sys ,1 + E sys ,2 equation expresses input, and the right-hand side
en ,sys = 100 [%] expresses output.
m wb qlhv .wb + m gv qlhv,CH
4
(14)
Combustor Unit:
Exergy Flow of the WB-SEG /
PEFC Combined System m wb ewb + m ga ega + m fe e fe =

( ) (
1 T0 Trb H rb + 1 T0 Tsi H si + Isi )
The quantity of exergy is the sum of chemical (18)
exergy, thermomechanical exergy, kinetic exergy,
and potential exergy. In this chapter, kinetic ex- Vaporizer Unit:
ergy and potential exergy are not calculated, be-
cause they are very small values compared with m gv egv + m rw erw
chemical exergy (ech ) and thermomechanical (19)
exergy (etc ). So, the value of each exergy is cal-
( )
+ 1 T0 Tv H v = m ve eve + Iv
culated using Equation (15).

Reformer Unit:
e = ech + etc (15)
(
m ve eve + 1 T0 Tr H r =

) (20)
The exergy balance of the system is calcu- (
m re ere + 1 T0 Tro H ro + Ir )
lated by Equation (16). ein and eout show the
input and output of exergy, and ediss and edest show Shifter Unit:
exergy dissipation and exergy destruction, respec-
tively.
(
m re ere = m se ese + 1 T0 Ts H s + Is )
(21)
ein = eout + ediss + edest (16)
CO Oxidation Equipment Unit:

Equation (17) is an exergy balance expression.
The left-hand side is the input term, and there are m se ese + m ca eca = m ce ece
substance inputs and heat inputs. The right-hand (22)
side is the output term. The first term of the right- (
+ 1 T T H + I 0 c ) c c
hand side expresses the output of substance, the
257
Cell Stack: and thermomechanical exergy (etc ) of the entrance

of each unit are calculated, and they give Equa-
rce m ce ece + rfa m fa e fa = tions (18) to (23). As a result, the exergy balance

( )
m fe e fe + 1 T0 Tfe H fe + f E f + If in each unit can be taken. When the exergy bal-
ance in each unit is decided, the exergy balance
(23)
in the overall system will be given by giving this
result to Equation (17). The exergy efficiency of
The exergy efficiency of the system is calcu-
the system can calculate the exergy supply and
lated using Equation (24).
the production of electricity of the fuel taken from
the result of the exergy balance described above
eout E sys ,1 + E sys ,2
ex ,sys = = 100 [%] by giving Equation (24).
ein m wb ewb + m gv egv
(24) Analysis Result
Analysis Procedure Energy Balance and Exergy Flow
The analysis procedure of the WB-SEG / PEFC Figures 13, 14, and 15 show the analysis result
combined system shown in Figure 12 is described. of the energy and exergy flow of the WB-SEG,
The analysis procedure of each system of WB- the PEFC, and the WB-SEG / PEFC combined
SEG and PEFC shown in Figure 10 and Figure system, respectively. The numbers in brackets in
11 is the same as that of the analysis method of these figures show exergy. Figure (a) in each fig-
the WB-SEG / PEFC combined system. ure is the calculation result in the case of heating
the fuel previously using the exhaust heat of the
1. Energy Flow and Generation Efficiency system. Each exhaust gas of the combustion gas
First, the generating end output ( E sys,1 and E sys,2 ) of WB-SEG, the reformer unit of PEFC, shifter
of WB-SEG and PEFC is determined. The molar unit, and CO oxidation unit is used for preheating
flow rate and the amount of input-output of heat the fuel. The exhaust heat of the engine-cooling
of each unit are calculable using the efficiency water of WB-SEG, the cell stack of PEFC, and
and the chemical reaction shown in Figure 12 (b). the vaporizer unit is always supplied to the heat
The energy flow of the system calculates and storage tank, and is supplied to the heat demand
obtains the energy balance in each unit using side. On the other hand, Figure (b) in each figure
Equation (7) to Equation (12). The whole energy is the calculation result in the case of storing all
balance is calculated by giving the amount of the exhaust heat of the system in the heat storage
energy input-output in each unit to Equation (13). tank, without preheating the fuel.
The generation efficiency of the system is calcu-
lated by introducing into Equation (14) the amount 1. WB-SEG
of fuel supply and the production of electricity As shown in Figure 13 (b), the exhaust heat of
taken from the energy balance. the exhaust gas system is given to preheating the
woody biomass fuel and the combustion air at
2. Exergy Flow and Exergy Efficiency 50%, respectively. Exergy loss of the combustor
First, the fluid temperature in each unit outlet is and the Stirling engine is large in Figures 13 (a)
calculated from the chemical reaction shown in and 13 (b) (3440 W and 3430 W). It is expected
Figure 12 (b), and the energy flow described in that the cause of this is the heat transmission char-
the section above. Next, chemical exergy (ech ) acteristic of the high-temperature combustion gas
258
Figure 13. Energy flow and exergy flow of WB-SEG
in the combustor and the engine heat exchanger. 2. PEFC

The combustion gas of the woody biomass is As shown in Figure 14 (b), 30% of the exhaust heat
considered to be exhausted without sufficiently of the reformer unit, shifter unit, and CO oxida-
exchanging heat for the engine heat exchanger. tion unit is given to the city gas for burning. 20%
In order to reduce exergy loss of the system, the of heat of the exhaust gas is given to the air for
heat exchange quantity of combustion gas and the burning. Moreover, 50% of exhaust heat is given
Stirling engine needs to be increased. The Stirling to the city gas and water for reforming.
engine using woody biomass is attended by solid Exergy loss of the combustor of PEFC is 1805
burning with difficult heat transmission control. W when heating the fuel previously. The exergy
259
Figure 14. Energy flow and exergy flow of PEFC with reformer
loss when not accompanied by preheating the is supplied to the shifter unit after cooling. The
fuel is 1830 W. These values are small compared reformed gas temperature of the reformer unit
with the combustor of WB-SEG described in outlet is 800 degrees Celsius (1073 K), and the
Figure 13. Moreover, exergy loss at the inlet and reformed gas temperature of the shifter unit inlet is
outlet of the shifter unit of PEFC is large. This 180 degrees Celsius (about 450 K). As one of the
is because the reformed gas of the reformer unit improvement means of exergy loss, it is feasible to
260
Figure 15. Energy flow and exergy flow of WB-SEG/PEFC combined system
261
smooth the difference in the reaction temperature Figure 16 (b) shows the result of the system with
in each unit. Accordingly, the rapid temperature preheating of the fuel. The energy generation
change of reformed gas can be avoided. For efficiency of PEFC is the highest. Moreover,
example, development of a shift catalyst with although the energy generation efficiency of
high-temperature reaction is effective. On the the WB-SEG / PEFC combined system is lower
other hand, development of a reforming catalyst than that of PEFC, it has improved more than
with low-temperature reaction is also effective. that of WB-SEG. Energy generation efficiency
and exergy generation efficiency will increase
3. WB-SEG / PEFC Combined System by all the systems, when a fuel is previously
When previously heating the fuel for reforming, heated using exhaust heat. WB-SEG and the
the fuel for burning (woody biomass), and com- WB-SEG / PEFC combined system with fuel
bustion air of the WB-SEG / PEFC combined preheating improve energy efficiency and exergy
system, exhaust heat is distributed as shown in efficiency greatly. This result is because the
Figure 15 (b). This distribution ratio is the same high-temperature exhaust heat of the combustor
as PEFC shown in Figure 14 (b). Exergy loss of of the Stirling engine was used effectively. The
the combustor as well as of WB-SEG shown in energy generation efficiency of the WB-SEG
Figure 13 is large. Exergy loss of the combined / PEFC combined system with fuel preheating
system with fuel preheating is 5310 W, and loss has improved greatly compared with WB-SEG.
if there is no preheating is 5100 W. Exergy loss Moreover, the exergy efficiency of the WB-SEG
in front of and behind the shifter unit shown in / PEFC combined system exceeds that of PEFC.
Figure 14 is also large. The WB-SEG / PEFC combined system realizes
energy cascade utilization, and possible effective
Generation Efficiency and use of energy.
Exergy Efficiency
Conclusion
Figure 16 shows the analysis result of the gen-
eration efficiency based on energy and exergy. A combined system that uses the high-temperature
Figure 10 (a) shows the result in the case of exhaust heat of WB-SEG for city gas reforming and
supplying room-temperature fuel to the system. that supplies the produced reformed gas to PEFC
Figure 16. Analysis results of system generating efficiency
262
was proposed. The energy flow and exergy flow is when evaluating the regionality of a distributed
of this system were analyzed, and the following fuel cell using exergy analysis. This investigates the
conclusions were obtained. relation between the regionality (environmental
temperature, load characteristic) and the genera-
1. Exergy loss of the combustor of the WB- tion efficiency of the PEM fuel cell. If the exergy
SEG is large, due to difference between the efficiency of system components becomes clear,
high-temperature combustion gas and the specification of a unit with considerable exergy
heat exchanger of the Stirling engine. In loss can be considered (Shukuya, 2006). The
order to reduce exergy loss of the system, it exergy flow of the energy system influences the
is necessary to improve the heat-exchange environmental temperature (standard reference
characteristic described in the top. temperature) (Yoshida, 1999; Kopac & Kokturk,
2. The exergy loss in front of and behind the 2005). Therefore, installation of the same energy
shifter unit of PEFC is large. This is because system as an area where weather differs will
the reformed gas outputted from the reformer change the exergy flow. If the exergy flow of the
unit is cooled greatly. In order to improve energy system differs for every community, the
exergy loss, the temperature change of each system configuration and operation method will
unit should be smoothed. For example, it be considered to have an optimal solution for every
is effective to develop a shift catalyst with community. Therefore, in this study, the exergy
high- temperature reaction and a reforming of the fuel cell cogeneration for houses where the
catalyst with low- temperature reaction. environmental temperature differs is investigated,
3. Although the energy generation efficiency and the regional characteristics of the system are
of the WB-SEG / PEFC combined system compared. The method of improving the exergy
with preheating of the fuel is lower than that efficiency of the system is not necessarily in agree-
of PEFC, it is greatly improved compared ment with that of improving energy efficiency. To
with the WB-SEG system. Moreover, the date, the exergy of power systems, such as fuel
exergy efficiency of the WB-SEG / PEFC cells, cogeneration, and combined cycle power
combined system exceeds that of the PEFC generation systems, has been investigated (Kuz-
system. Therefore, the proposed system in gunkaya & Hepbasli, 2006; Kazim, 2005; Senel et
this chapter can realize cascade use of energy, al., 2005; Mohamad & Mofid, 2005; Ay, Midilli,
and can use energy effectively. & Dincer, 2006). However, no cases investigat-
ing the exergy efficiency of residential fuel cell
systems in Japan due to differences in reference
EXERGY ANALYSIS OF A temperature have emerged. Moreover, neither
REGIONAL DISTRIBUTED were any details found of reports investigating
PEM FUEL CELL SYSTEM the regional characteristics of the distributed fuel
cell system using exergy analysis.
Introduction The fuel cell system used for the analysis in
this study is a proton-exchange-membrane fuel
When introducing a distributed energy system, cell (PEM-FC) with a city-gas (with components
consideration of regional characteristics is re- almost equivalent to those of natural gas) reformer
quired. However, no cases of examination using (Hsin-Sen et al., 2008; Obara & Kudo, 2005;
exergy in relation to the regional characteristics Mathiak et al., 2004). The power demand of the
of a distributed energy system have been found. household electric appliances in an individual
The aspect of this study that differs from others house is an average of 1kW or less at any one
263
time. When the electric power demand for cool- Scheme of the Distributed
ing in the summer season is added to this load, Energy System
the instant power load will increase to between 2
and 3 kW. Therefore, in this study, the capacity Fuel Cell Cogeneration for Houses
of a fuel cell is set up for 3kW. Based on numeri-
cal analysis, the relation between the reference Figure 17 shows the basic system of the small-scale
temperature, and energy and exergy efficiency fuel cell cogeneration for houses as assumed in
is investigated. Moreover, the characteristic of this study. Figure 17 (a) shows the system scheme
energy and exergy efficiency when setting the while Figure 17 (b) shows the flow of the energy
outside air temperatures, with Sapporo, Tokyo, and the system substance. The proposed system
and Kagoshima taken as reference temperatures, consists of a city-gas reformer, a fuel cell, and
is investigated and the regional characteristics other auxiliary machinery. The city-gas reformer
of the small-scale PEM-FC cogeneration were consists of a combustion chamber (burner) unit,
considered from these results. a vaporizer unit, and a reforming unit. Moreover,
Figure 17. PEFC system model for house
264
the fuel cell consists of a cell stack, a shifter unit, Energy and Substance Flow
and carbon monoxide combustion equipment. The
main auxiliary machinery is a heat storage tank, a The reaction formulas, mass transfer, efficiency,
backed boiler, a DC-AC converter, an inverter, and and the relation between the power and heat output
a high-speed changeover switch. Although city-gas of each unit are shown in Figure 18 (b). Although
is supplied to the reformer and the backed boiler, both city-gas and air are supplied to the combustor,
as shown in Figure 17 (b), it is separated into the the air-fuel ratio is set to 3.0 based on all operating
reforming system and the combustion equipment conditions. Moreover, the fuel utilization rates
system in the reformer unit. Heat generation by the of the cell stack anode and cathode are set to 0.5
electrochemical reaction and overvoltage of the and 0.3, respectively, and both the efficiencies of
cell stack and the heat generation of the reformer the DC-AC converter and the inverter are fixed at
unit, the shifter unit, and the carbon monoxide 0.95. In the CO oxidation unit, a little hydrogen
combustion unit are recovered. Exhaust heat is also burns at the time of CO oxidization. In this
stored in the heat storage tank, which can sub- study, the hydrogen-burning rate in reformed gas
sequently be supplied to the demand side when is set up with 3 vol%. The oxygen is supplied to
the period is shifted. Moreover, the production the combustor unit, the CO oxidation equipment
of electricity (I/T outlet in Figure 17 (b)) of the unit, the cell stack, and the boiler. Moreover, water
system is a maximum of 3kW. is supplied to the vaporizer unit using a pump. As
described above, in the proposed system, power
Operating Condition of Each Unit is consumed to provide a supply of air and water,
but the demand required is not included in the
The reaction and exhaust heat temperatures of each analysis of this study.
unit are shown in Figure 18 (a), which also shows
the component of reformed gas. The combustion Analysis Method
gas of the combustor unit is supplied to both the
vaporizer and reformer units, following which Performance of the Fuel Cell
combustion gas is supplied to the heat exchanger
in the heat storage tank. The steam used for steam Figure 19 (a) shows the output performance of
reforming is generated in the vaporizer unit. In the cell stack used for analysis (Hussain et al.,
the reformer unit, reformed gas is produced from 2005). The current density of the maximum out-
city-gas and steam and many kinds of catalyst put point is about 1.5 A/cm2 and ohmic polariza-
are used in the reformer unit, the shifter unit, tion ( Vop ), concentration polarization ( Vcp ),
the CO oxidation unit, and the cell stack, with and activation polarization ( Vap ) exist as resis-
proper temperature ranges for each reaction. The
tance components of the fuel cell (Hussain et al.,
temperature ranges of the reformed gas system
shown in Figure 18 (a) are the optimal range of 2005). The voltage Vvt of the fuel cell is the
each catalytic reaction. Cooling air is supplied to value excluding Vop , Vcp , Vap from the
the shifter unit, the CO oxidation equipment unit, theoretical voltage Vrt , as expressed in Equation
and the cell stack by a blower. All such exhaust (25). From these resistance components, the rela-
heat is supplied to the heat storage tank, and stored. tion between the load factor of the cell stack and
The stored heat shifts a period and can supply the generation efficiency is decided. Here, (produc-
heat to the demand side, while the backed boiler is tion-of-electricity / power generation capacity of
operated when the heat storage temperature is low. the facility)100 [%] is defined as the load factor.
265
Figure 18. System configuration
266
Figure 19. Performance of the PEFC with natural gas reformer
As shown in Figure 19 (b), the reformer effi- Vaporizer Unit:

ciency also changes with the load factor (Yasuda,
2005). Here, (calorific heat of the hydrogen in m gv hgv + m rw hrw
(27)
reformed gas) / (calorific heat of the city-gas sup- +m bv hbv Q v = m ve hve
plied to the reformer) 100 [%] is defined as the
reformer efficiency. The generation efficiency of
the system is the value multiplied by the reform- Reformer Unit:
er efficiency, and the generation efficiency of the
fuel cell as shown in Figure 19 (b). m ve hve + m br hbr Q r =
(28)
r m re hre + m rx hrx
Vvt = Vrt Vap Vop Vcp (25)
Shifter Unit:
Energy Balance and Energy Efficiency
m re hre + Qs = m se hse + m sx hsx (29)
Equations (26) to (31) show the energy-balance
equation of each unit, while m and h in each CO Oxidation Unit:
equation express the molar flow rate and en-
thalpy, respectively, while Q and W express the m se hse + m ca hca + Qc = m ce hce + m cx hcx
heat and power, respectively. The left-hand side (30)
of each equation expresses inputs, and the right
hand side expresses outputs. Cell Stack:
Combustor Unit: m ce hce + m fa h fa = m fe h fe + Q fe + f W f

(31)
m gc hgc + m ga hga + m fe h fe
(26)
+Q = m h + m h
rb bv bv br br Equation (32) is the energy balance equation
of the system. The left-hand side expresses the
267
input terms and the right hand side the output shida, K., (1999)). Here, the number of compo-
terms, while Qsys and W sys of the right hand side nents of the fluid is set to n , and ni and ei0 express
express the heat and power outputs of the system, the number of moles and the standard chemistry
respectively. Moreover, the total energy effi- exergy of component i . C p,i expresses the spe-
ciency of the system is calculated using Equation cific heat of component i .
(33). qlhv in this equation expresses the calorific
heat of the city-gas. n
ech = ni ei0 (36)
i =1
n m
m in ,i
hin ,i = m out , j hout , j
(32)
i =1 j =1 n T
+Qsys +W sys + Qloss etc = ni C p,i T T0 T0 ln
i =1 T0
(37)
W sys + Q f + Qe
en ,sys = 100 (33)
(m gc + m gv ) qlhv 2. Exergy Balance and Exergy Efficiency
The exergy balance of the system is described in
Equation (38) (Ishihara, A.,et al., (2004)). ein and
Exergy Analysis
eout express the input and output of exergy, while
1. Exergy Calculation ediss and edest express the exergy dissipation and
By environmental temperature T0 , the exergy of exergy destruction, respectively. Moreover, Equa-
the reversible change of the open system is cal- tion (39) expresses exergy loss.
culated by Equation (34). It means that T0 (s s 0 )
is not convertible for mechanical energy among ein = eout + ediss + edest (38)
the enthalpy change (h h0 ) . Here, h , s , and
T express enthalpy, entropy, and temperature eloss = ein eout = ediss + edest (39)
respectively, while subscript 0 indicates a standard
condition. Exergy is calculated by the sum of
Equation (40) is the exergy balance equation.
chemical exergy (ech ), thermomechanical exergy
The left-hand side is the input terms, comprising
(etc ), kinetic exergy (eki ), and potential exergy ( inputs of substance and heat, while the right hand
ep ), as shown in Equation (35). However, in this side is output terms. The 1st term of the right hand
study, kinetic exergy and potential exergy are not side expresses the output of substance, the 2nd
calculated from very small values compared with expresses the output of heat, the 3rd expresses the
chemical exergy and thermomechanical exergy. power output and the final term expresses the
exergy loss rate I .
e = (h h0 ) T0 (s s 0 ) (34)
n
m in ,i ( )
ein ,i + 1 T0 Tin Q in =
e = ech + etc + eki + ep (35) i =1
m
( )
m out, j eout, j + 1 T0 Tout Qout +W + I
j =1
ech and etc in Equation (35) are calculated (40)
using Equations (36) and (37), respectively (Yo-
268
Equations (41) to (46) represent the exergy eout

ex ,sys = =
balance equation in each unit. The left-hand side ein
of each equation expresses the input, and the right W sys + m rx erx + m sx esx (47)
hand side expresses the output.
(
+m cx ecx + 1 T0 Tfe Q fe ) 100
Combustor Unit: m gc egc + m gv egv
m gc egc + m ga ega + m fe e fe = Analysis Procedure

(
m bv ebv + m br ebr + 1 T0 Tcb Qcb + Icb )
(41) Each equation described by previous sections is
Vaporizer Unit: calculated using the newly developed computer
program, with the analysis procedure described
m gv egv + m rw erw + m bv ebv = below. The energy balance of each unit is calcu-
(42) lated using Equations (26) to (31), and the energy
(
m ve eve + 1 T0 Tv Q v + Iv ) balance of the whole system is calculated by
Equation (32). The relation of the load factor,
Reformer Unit: efficiency of the reformer and fuel cell is deter-
mined from the relation of Figure 19 (b). On the
other hand, calculation of the exergy balance of
m ve eve + m br ebr + 1 T0 Tr Q r = (
(43) ) each unit is calculated using Equations (41) to
m e + m e + I
r re re rx rx r (46). Moreover, the exergy balance of the system
is calculated by Equation (40) and the energy and
Shifter Unit: exergy flowcharts are prepared from these results.
Next, reference temperature (T0 ), used for the
m re ere = m se ese + m sx esx calculation of energy and exergy, is changed, and
(44)
(
+ 1 T T Q + I0 s ) s s
the relation between the environmental tempera-
ture, energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency of
the system is investigated. These relations are
CO Oxidation Equipment Unit: introduced into the outside-air-temperature profile
of each city, and the energy and exergy efficiencies
m se ese + m ca eca = m ce ece of the system are calculated. However, the opera-
(45)
+m e + 1 T T Q + I
cx cx ( 0 c ) c c
tion of the system follows power load fluctuations.
The typical parameters used in analysis are
shown in Table 5.
Cell Stack:
Analysis Result
rce m ce ece + rfa m fa e fa = m fe e fe
(46)
(
+ 1 T T Q + W + I
0 fe ) fe f f f
Energy Balance and Exergy Balance
Figure 20 shows the results of the energy balance

The total exergy efficiency of the system is and exergy balance at reference temperature 298
calculated by Equation (47). K and 0.1013 MPa. However, the production of
269
Table 5. Analysis parameters
Figure 20. Analysis results of energy flow and exergy flow. In the case of the power generation output
of 3 kW, and standard reference temperature 298 K.
270
Figure 21. Analysis results

electricity (W sys ) of the system is 3kW. Moreover,
Figure 21 (a) shows the analysis result of the
exergy loss of each unit when changing the refer-
ence temperature. As shown in Figures 20 (b) and
21 (a), exergy loss in the combustor unit is con-
siderable, the vaporizer unit, and the reformer
unit. In order to reduce the exergy loss of the
combustor unit, it is necessary to preheat city-gas
and air using the exhaust heat of the system, and
to raise the combustion temperature. For example,
in order to reduce the exergy loss Icb in Equation
(41), it is necessary to boost the value of
( 0 cb )
1 T T Q of the 3rd term of the right hand
cb
side. Therefore, the increase in the combustion

temperature Tcb is effective in reducing the ex-
ergy loss. Likewise, preheating the water supplied
to the vaporizer also decreases exergy loss. When
the proposed system is introduced into each city
as will be described in the latter section, exhaust
heat will often exceed heat demand, meaning
preheating of the fluid using exhaust heat is a
sensible move.
On the other hand, the reason for the consider-
able exergy loss of the reformer unit is the need
to cool the hot-reformed gas according to the
catalytic reaction (See Figure 18 (a)). Although
the reformed gas temperature of the reformer unit
is 1073K, it is cooled and supplied to the shifter
unit at 450K (See Figure 18 (a)). From the
shifter unit to the CO oxidation equipment unit,
and the CO oxidation unit to the cell stack, the
temperature change of the reformed gas is modest,
with little exergy loss. In order to decrease the
exergy loss, it is necessary to minimize any drop
in temperature due to the cooling of reformed gas.
For example, the catalyst material of each unit
may be modified and improvements to reduce the
temperature variation between units can be con-
sidered.
The total energy efficiency shown in Figure
20 (a) is 72%, and the total exergy efficiency
shown in Figure 20 (b) is 40%. The total exergy
271
efficiency is low because of the small heat output days for every month in each city. The tempera-
efficiency and the usage of heat from reformed gas ture of these representative days is a value that
in particular requires modification. As a method is averaged based on the outside air temperature
for improving exergy efficiency, the combined at the same time every month 12 to 18 in 2005.
cycle power generation using the heat of reformed The meteorological data for each city, released by
gas is effective. the Meteorological Agency, was used to obtain
these outside air temperature data (Meteorologi-
Influence of the Environmental cal Agency meteorological observation in Japan,
Temperature (2007)). Figures 22 (a) and 22 (b) show the power
demand and heat demand models of an individual
Figure 21 (b) shows the analysis result of the house in each city (Narita, K., (1996), The Na-
energy and exergy efficiencies when changing tional Research Study Concerning the Energy
the reference temperature of the proposed system. Consumption in the House, (2002)), with the
The difference of the exergy generation effi- load of household appliances, electric lights, and
ciency of 263K (-10 C ) and 313K (40 C ) is space cooling included in the power load and that
1.5%, while the difference of the efficiency of a for space heating, hot water supply, and the bath
heat output is 42% and that of exergy total effi- included in the heat load. Because there is no space
ciency is about 13%. Conversely, the difference cooling in Sapporo, there is no significant differ-
of the energy generation efficiency within the ence in the power load pattern every month. On
same temperature range is 1.5%, and the difference the other hand, because the cooling load increases
of the heat output efficiency of energy is 3%, compared with Tokyo, the power load in summer
while that of energy total efficiency is about 3%. is considerable in Kagoshima.
Although the difference in environmental tem-
perature has a significant influence on exergy 2. Regional System Characteristics
efficiency, its influence on energy efficiency is Figure 23 shows the analysis result of the energy
small. Figure 21 (c) shows the relation between and exergy efficiencies in winter (February), mid-
the load factor of the system, and energy total term (May), and summer (August) representative
efficiency and exergy total efficiency. In the case days. Figures 24 (a) and 24 (b) show the difference
of load factor 4% to 100% and an environmental of energy and exergy efficiencies in each city in
temperature range of 263K (-10 C ) to 313K (40 comparison with Tokyo. Except for the generation
C ), the difference of energy total efficiency is efficiency of the summer in Kagoshima, there is
6%. On the other hand, the difference in exergy no difference in each city in terms of considerable
total efficiency within the same range is 30%. In energy efficiency. There are many cooling loads
this way, the exergy total efficiency changes sig- and the load factor increases in summer in Ka-
nificantly with the environmental temperature. goshima, meaning generation efficiency follows
suit. On the other hand, in the analysis result of
Evaluation of Regionality the exergy efficiency shown in Figure 23 (b), the
heat output efficiency differs greatly in each city.
1. Analysis System The difference shown in Figure 24 (c) is between
In this study, the energy and exergy efficiencies the exhaust heat output of the system, and the
at the time of introducing the proposed system heat demand amount. When there is insufficient
into individual homes of each city in Sapporo, heat, operation of the backed boiler is required,
Tokyo, and Kagoshima are investigated. Figure and in the case of a heat surplus, heat release is
21 (d) shows the temperature of the representative required. Figure 25 shows the analysis result of
272
Figure 22. Energy demand
273
Figure 23. Energy and exergy efficiency of the proposal system
Figure 24. Regional difference of the analysis results
274
Figure 25. System efficiency when taking waste heat into consideration
the energy and exergy efficiencies when releas- Conclusions

ing surplus heat. Moreover, Figure 26 shows the
difference of the energy and exergy efficiencies The exergy flow and exergy efficiency of the
in each city in comparison with Tokyo. The fall distributed energy system using small-scale PEM-
in the energy and exergy efficiencies due to the FC were investigated. As a result, when the same
release of surplus heat is remarkable in the city energy system was introduced into a community
with a high outside air temperature. Because the where climates differ, the exergy flow was shown
heat release tends to increase when the outside air to vary. The exergy efficiency when the proposed
temperature is high and there is little heat demand, system was introduced into individual houses in
total energy efficiency falls. However, in the city Sapporo, Tokyo, and Kagoshima was evaluated.
with a high outside air temperature, both the space At the case of a load factor of 4% to 100% and
cooling load and generation efficiency increase. environmental temperature of 263K to 313K, the
Figure 26. Difference with Tokyo of the energy and exergy efficiency when taking release into consideration
275
difference of energy total efficiency is 6%. On Eguchi, K., & Kurosawa, Y. (1988). Study on high
the other hand, the difference in the exergy total load swirl burners for Stirling engines. Reduc-
efficiency within the same range is 30%. The tion in NOx and heat adsorption characteristics
following methods were suggested for improving in exhaust gas recirculation. In Proc. of the 26th
exergy efficiency: Japanese Symp. on Combustion, (pp. 131-133).
Gan, J., & Smith, C. T. (2006). A comparative
1. Preheat the city-gas and air supplied to the
analysis of woody biomass and coal for electricity
system using exhaust heat, and raise the
generation under various CO2 emission reduc-
combustion temperature.
tions and taxes. Biomass and Bioenergy, 30(4),
2. Preheat the water supplied to the system
296308. doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2005.07.006
using exhaust heat.
3. In order to reduce the cooling of the reformed Hamelin, K. etal. (2001). Dynamic behavior of
gas as much as possible, modify the catalyst a PEM fuel cell stack for stationary applications.
material of each unit. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 26,
4. The examination of combined cycle power 625629. doi:10.1016/S0360-3199(00)00121-X
generation.
Hawkes, A. D., & Leach, M. A. (2007). Cost-
effective operating strategy for residential micro-
When the proposed system is introduced into
combined heat and power. Energy, 32(5), 711723.
a community with a low outside air temperature,
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2006.06.001
exergy efficiency will increase compared with a
community with a high outside air temperature. Hussain, M. M., Baschuk, J. J., Dincer, X., & Li,
Moreover, exhaust heat must be released into I. (2005). Thermodynamic Analysis of a PEM
communities with a high outside air temperature, Fuel Cell Power System. International Journal
meaning a considerable drop in energy and exergy of Thermal Sciences, 44, 903911. doi:10.1016/j.
efficiencies. On the other hand, because the space ijthermalsci.2005.02.009
cooling load of the system introduced into this
Ibaraki Prefecture Government Office of Educa-
community increases, the generation efficiency
tion. (2002). Modeling of hydrogen energy system
does the same.
(High School Active Science Project Research
Report). Ibaraki, Japan: Author. In Japanese
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278
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
Ar : Surface area of the combustion chamber [m2]

C a : Mean specific heat of exhaust gas [J/(kgK)], [J/molK]
C w : Specific heat of engine-cooling-water [J/(kgK)]
E : Power [W]
EC : Capacity of power generation [kW]
Es : Generating end output [W]
e : Exergy [W], [J/mol]
e 0 : Standard chemical exergy [J/mol]
H : Heat [W]
h : Enthalpy [J/mol]
I : Integration parameter
I : Exergy loss rate [W]
K : The rate of overall heat transfer [W/(m2K)]
Lb : Lower calorific value of the woody biomass [J/g]
LCH : Lower calorific value of city-gas [J/kg]
4
m : Molar flow rate [mol/s]

P : Proportionality parameter
Pg : Pressure gauge
Q : Heat [W]
q : Heat flux sensor
q : Heat quantity [W]
qa : Exhaust gas quantity of heat [W]
qb : The amount of combustion heat of the woody biomass [W]
qlhv : Calorific value of city gas [J/mol]
qr : The amount of heat release from the combustion chamber surface [W]
qw : Engine-cooling-water quantity of heat [W]
r : Fuel utilization rate
R : Power load factor [%]
rce : Utilization rate of anode gas [%]
rfa : Utilization rate of cathode gas [%]
s : Entropy [J/molK]
T : Temperature [K]
ta : Difference of exhaust gas temperature and room temperature [K]
tr : Difference of combustion-chamber temperature and room temperature [K]
tw : Difference of engine-cooling-water and room temperature [K]
279
u : Power input [kW]

V : Voltage [V]
V : Overpotential [V]
Va : Exhaust gas flow rate [m3/s]
Vf : Supply of the woody biomass [g/s]
Vw : Engine-cooling-water flow rate [g/s]
W : Power [W]
Greek Letters
: Efficiency
a : Mean density of emission
w : Density of engine cooling water
Subscript
a : Exhaust gas of the combustion chamber

ap : Activation polarization
br : Combustion gas or combustion gas supplied to the reformer unit
bv : Combustion gas supplied to the combustor unit
c : CO oxidation unit
ca : Air supplied to the combustor unit
cb : Burning or combustor unit
ce : Reformed gas of the CO oxidation equipment unit
ch : Chemical
cp : Concentration polarization
cr : CO oxidation heat
cx : Cooling air of the CO oxidation equipment unit
D : DC-AC converter
dest : Destruction
diss : Dissipation
Ex : Exhaust gas of SEG
Ey : Cooling water of SEG
Ez : Heat radiation of SEG
e : Exhaust heat (Figure 15 (b))
en : Energy
ex : Exergy
FC : Proton exchange membrane fuel cell
f : Cell stack
fa : Air supplied to the cell stack
fe : Exhaust gas of the cell stack
fr : Cell stack heating valve
280
ga : Air supplied to the combustor unit

gc : City-gas supplied to the combustor unit
gv : City-gas supplied to the vaporizer unit
I : Inverter
ki : Kinetic
m : The number of composition of the fluid
n : The number of composition of the fluid
op : Ohmic polarization
p : Potential
r : Reformer unit
ra : Reforming heat
rb : Combustion gas
re : Reformed gas of the reformer unit
rm : Heat release of the combustion chamber
rw : Water supplied to the vaporizer unit
rx : Exhaust gas of the reformer unit
SEG : Stirling engine
s : Shifter unit
sa : Shifting heat
sc : Cell stack
se : Reformed gas of the shifter unit
si : Output to the stirling engine
sx : Cooling air of shifter unit
sys : System
tc : Thermomechanical
tc : Thermomechanical
v : Vaporizer unit
va : Amount of heat of vaporization
ve : Reformed gas of the vaporizer unit
vo : Exhaust heat of the vaporizer unit
vt : Power voltage output
w : Cooling-water of the Stirling engine
wb : Woody biomass
0 : Standard reference
281
282
Chapter 9
Design Support Using a
Neural Network Algorithm
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Dynamic Operational Scheduling Algorithm for an Independent
Microgrid with Renewable Energy and Operation Prediction of a Bioethanol Solar Reforming System
Using a Neural Network. In the 1st section, a dynamic operational scheduling algorithm is developed
using a neural network and a genetic algorithm to provide predictions for solar cell power output (PAS).
The section shows that operating the microgrid according to the plan derived with PAS was far supe-
rior, in terms of equipment hours of operation, to that using past average weather data. Because solar
radiation and outside air temperature are unstable, it is difficult to predict operation of the system with
accuracy. Therefore, the 2nd section developes an operation prediction program of the FBSR (bioetha-
nol reforming system) using a layered neural network (NN) with the error-correction learning method.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION study, the production-of-electricity prediction

algorithm (PAS) of the solar cell was developed.
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. A In PAS, a layered neural network is made to learn
microgrid with the capacity for sustainable energy based on past weather data and the operation plan
is expected to be a distributed energy system that of the compound system of a solar cell and other
exhibits quite a small environmental impact. In an energy systems was examined using this predic-
independent microgrid, green energy, which is tion algorithm. In this study, a dynamic opera-
typically thought of as unstable, can be utilized tional scheduling algorithm is developed using
effectively by introducing a battery. In the past a neural network (PAS) and a genetic algorithm
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch009
Design Support Using a Neural Network Algorithm
(GA) to provide predictions for solar cell power 50% or less of fluctuation is added to the outside
output. We also do a case study analysis in which temperature and global solar radiation, there was
we use this algorithm to plan the operation of a 16% or less analysis error.
system that connects nine houses in Sapporo to
a microgrid composed of power equipment and
a polycrystalline silicon solar cell. In this work, DYNAMIC OPERATIONAL
the relationship between the accuracy of output SCHEDULING ALGORITHM FOR
prediction of the solar cell and the operation plan AN INDEPENDENT MICROGRID
of the microgrid was clarified. Moreover, we found WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY
that operating the microgrid according to the plan
derived with PAS was far superior, in terms of Introduction
equipment hours of operation, to that using past
average weather data. Microgrid technology with the capacity for sus-
The summary of the 2nd section is as follows. tainable energy operation has been widely dis-
The bioethanol reforming system (FBSR) using cussed recently from the point of view reducing the
sunlight as a heat source is a fuel production sys- environmental impact of society (Abu-Sharkh et
tem for fuel cells with little environmental impact. al., 2006; Muselli, Notton, & Louche, 1999; Ismail,
However, because solar radiation and outside air Kemmoku, Takikawa, & Sakakibara, 2002). In
temperature are unstable, it is difficult to predict these setups, the operation optimization program
operation of the system with accuracy. Therefore, installed in the controller of a combined system
an operation prediction program of the FBSR us- is the most important aspect of the technology
ing a layered neural network (NN) with the error- for determining the performance of the system (
correction learning method has been developed. Obara, 2006). However, because an output pre-
We developed a method of analyzing the operation diction for the green energy contribution to the
of a natural energy system with sufficient accu- system is required, the dynamic operation plan of
racy. The weather pattern (the amount of global a system that combines conventional energy equip-
solar radiation and the outside air temperature) ment (for example, a diesel engine, a gas engine,
and energy-demand pattern for the past one year a fuel cell, etc.) and green-energy equipment can
are inputted into the NN. Moreover, training sig- be very difficult to design. In this work, we use
nals are calculated by a genetic algorithm (GA). a neural network (NN) to obtain output predic-
The training signals are given to the NN, and the tions for a solar cell. Weather data from the past
operation pattern of the FBSR is made to learn. 14 years (amount of solar radiation and outside
Operation of the FBSR on arbitrary days can be temperature) is fed into the learning process of the
predicted by inputting the weather pattern and the NN. This NN production-of-electricity prediction
energy-demand pattern into this learning NN. In algorithm was developed by the author and is
this study, the operation prediction program of described to be PAS in (Obara & Tanno, 2008).
the FBSR is developed, and details of the analytic Power fluctuations are known to occur in
accuracy are clarified. As a result of analyzing us- systems that utilize green energy on an indepen-
ing the developed algorithm, when 20% or less dent microgrid and that experience large or rapid
of power load fluctuation occurred, the operation changes in load (Obara, 2007). Given this, power
plan was analyzable in 14% or less of error span. storage equipment must be introduced and the
On the other hand, in operation prediction when dynamic characteristics of the microgrid must be
283
improved. Due largely to the proliferation of hybrid characteristics of the microgrid; the examination
vehicles and the like, the cost and performance concerning the supply-and-demand of heat in a
of batteries have recently improved remarkably similar system will be reported independently.
(Jorgensen, 2008). With this in mind, this Section
investigates algorithms for the operation planning Dynamic Operation Planning
of a microgrid that combines conventional type
energy equipment, a solar cell and a battery. Since 1. Operation Planning Based on a Solar Cell
a microgrid is typically built up of two or more Output Power Model
energy systems, we have to solve a nonlinear Figure 2 shows the operation method of a microgrid
problem with many variables. In this Section, the with a solar cell. Dynamic operation of the mi-
operation condition of the generating equipment crogrid is planned based on the output power
is expressed with chromosome codes, these are model of a solar cell. In this Section, the solar cell
introduced into a GA, and the optimal operation output model is based on PAS predictive data and
planning is determined. past average weather data (Homepage of Japan
Meteorological Agency, 2007; NEDO Technical
Independent Microgrid with information data base, 2008). The PAS is a pro-
Renewable Energy and Battery duction-of-electricity prediction algorithm that
was designed specifically for the solar cell in the
System Configuration work (Obara & Tanno, 2008). Figure 2 (a) shows
the method of planned dynamic operation based
Figure 1 shows the case of an independent mi- on the output power model of the solar cell de-
crogrid that distributes power to a small collection scribed in the introduction. From time t0 to time
of generating equipment (here we use gas engine t2 , there is no output from the solar cell and so
generators as an example, but our analysis is not in this interval, more electric energy is stored in
limited to this case). The microgrid is controlled the battery than is required by the load. In light
by a system controller on which we have installed of this, generating equipment is operated during
dynamic operation planning software. In this Sec- this period (Generator output (1)). Each piece of
tion, we investigate the power supply-and-demand generating equipment is operated by the fixed
Figure 1. Independent microgrid system using gas engines
284
Figure 2. Operation planning of a microgrid with a solar power
load near the maximum efficiency point. The ing the battery, and supplying charge from output
supply of electric power in the microgrid is ad- of the solar cell. Because the output of the solar
justed by controlling the number of pieces of cell exceeds the load in the period t5 to t4 , surplus
power equipment in operation. When the supply power can again be stored in the battery. If the
of electric power exceeds the load in the period output characteristics of the solar cell and the
from t0 to t2 , the amount of surplus charge is characteristic of power load are able to be pre-
moved into the battery. There is an output of the dicted in the early morning, one can minimize the
solar cell in the period t3 to t6 . In the period t2 number of equipment hours of operation and the
to t4 , the system responds to a load by discharg- number of charge and discharge cycles on the
285
battery throughout the day. It is known, however, temperature of the solar cell Tref changes (the
that the load following operation of power equip- efficiency falls as the temperature increases). The
ment is disadvantageous when it comes to installed temperature coefficient in this case is called RT .
capacity and the hours of operation required of
T is a reference temperature and sol is the
power equipment when compared with the output
predictive model of a solar cell (Mohammadi et power-generation efficiency of the solar cell at
al., 2005). T . H D in Equation (1) expresses the solar ra-
diation intensity for direct delivery (the intensity
2. Error of the Output Predictive Model of a of radiation which enters into the acceptance
Solar Cell, and the Influence on an Operation surface). Moreover, H S in Equation (1) express-
Plan es the solar radiation intensity of the dispersion
Figure 2 (b) shows the method of an operation component.
plan when a difference occurs between the output
model of the solar cell shown in Figure 2 (a), and Psol = Ssol sol (H D + H S )
an actual solar cell output. This system starts out R (1)
(during t0 to t2 ) by following the operation plan
( )
1 Tref T T
100
shown by the command of the controller in Figure
2 (a). However, as shown in Figure 2 (b), since
there is so little power being produced in the Power Balance and
solar cell, the period of t4 to t5 shown in Figure Objective Function
2 (b) requires additional operation of power equip-
ment (Generator output (2)). The system is con- Power Balance
tinuously controlled by the controller to follow
the operation shown in Figure 2 (a). However, Equation (2) expresses the power balance equation
there is little storage of electricity by the solar cell in the proposed microgrid. The left-hand side of
in Figure 2 (b) compared with Figure 2 (a). For the equation is the power outputted by the com-
this reason, when discharged from a battery in the position of equipment that makes up the system,
period t7 to t8 , the system will change to load and the right-hand side expresses the power con-
following operation (Generator output (3) and sumed by the microgrid. E gen ,i,t , Ebt ,t and Esol ,t
(4)). As a result, the number of hours of operation of the left-hand side express the output of the
of power equipment increases, and the additional generating equipment, battery, and solar cell
capacity of the battery cannot be sufficiently between time t and t + 1 , respectively. Moreover,
utilized further. N eng is the number of pieces of generating equip-
ment introduced into the microgrid. Eneed , j ,t is the
Solar Cell System
power demand at time t of the house j . N house
The area of power-generation of the solar cell is the number of the houses connected to the
microgrid. The last term on the right-hand side
introduced into the microgrid will be called Ssol
of Equation (2) ( Eloss ,t ) expresses the power
and we are assuming a polycrystalline silicon type
solar cell. The production of electricity of the loss in the system. The charge-and-discharge ef-
solar cell Psol is calculated using Equation (1). ficiency of a battery, power transmission loss,
etc., are included in this term. In the analysis of
The power-generation efficiency changes as the
this Section, the charge-and-discharge efficiency
286
of a battery is the only effect included in this term. value. The solution that more closely satisfies
The sampling interval for each piece of equipment, Equation (4) is described as having a large adap-
such as the generating equipment, a solar cell, or tive value.
a battery, is set to be one hour in this Section.
Ngen
Neng EOT t = n gen ,i ,t

(3)
E gen ,i ,t
+ Ebt ,t + Esol ,t = i =1
i =1
N house
(2)
Engine operation time =
E need , j ,t
+ Eloss ,t
Psys
j =1 (4)
minimize EOT t
t =1
Objective Function
The number of hours of operation of the generat-

Analysis Method
ing equipment EOT t between time t to t + 1
Production-of-Electricity Prediction
is obtained by calculating Equation (3). However, Algorithm of Solar Cell (PAS)
ngen ,i,t expresses the operational status of the
generating equipment i in the time between t A layered neural network (NN) is introduced
and t + 1 (1 indicates operation, 0 indicates and the production of electricity of a solar cell is
idle). N gen is the number of pieces of generating predicted according to the following procedures.
equipment installed in the microgrid. The total
1. Input-and-Output Data of NN Used by PAS
number of hours of operation for all pieces of
Figure 3 expresses the input-and-output data of
generating equipment that were in operation dur-
the NN used for PAS. dw expresses the present
ing the periods t = 1,2,.....,Psys is calculated by
date and t expresses the present time. In the
Equation (4). The optimization of the dynamic learning and analysis process of the NN, the aver-
operation plan of the microgrid is examined using age amount of solar radiation and average outdoor
a genetic algorithm (GA). In the GA, the objective air temperature are inputted as data for each time
function shown by Eq (4) is defined as an adaptive of the present date. The input data described in
Figure 3. Input data introduced into proposal NN
287
the introduction is fed into Equation (1), and the process are the same as those inputted during the
production of electricity Psol of the solar cell is learning process from 0 to t . The average amount
obtained. This Psol used as the teaching data in of solar radiation and average outdoor air tem-
the learning process of the NN. perature from t to 24 of a given day give the data
measured at same time the previous day.
2. Input Data
The data inputted into the NN the learning process 3. Structure of the NN, and Output Data
includes the average amount of solar radiation Figure 4 shows the structure of the NN introduced
and average outdoor air temperature for each time into PAS. Figure 4 (a) shows the learning process
of the day (from time 0 to time t ). On the other and Figure 4 (b) shows the analysis process. The
hand, the average amount of solar radiation and NN used in this proposal has three layers. In the
average outdoor air temperature from t to 24 of learning process, the input data ( x 1 to x 48 ) (de-
a given day give the values measured on the same scribed in Section (2)) are fed into the first layer
time and the same day of previous years, as ob- (the power-input layer) and the teaching data ( y1
tained from the standard weather and the solar to y24 ) are fed into the third layer (the output
radiation database on weather government office layer). The weight of each network connection
and AMEDAS (1990 to 2003) (Homepage of between neurons is decided using back propaga-
Japan Meteorological Agency, 2007), and NEDO tion (Obara, S., & Tanno, I., 2007) so that the
technical information data base (METPV-3) relationship between each input data point and
(NEDO Technical information data base, 2008). each teaching data point may be realized. Input
The data inputted into the NN during the analysis data can be given to a learned NN (in the analysis
Figure 4. Layered neural network of the proposal system
288
process), and the solar cell output power ( y1 to number of individuals of high adaptive value
y24 ) in each time of dw can be obtained from the (gotten by evaluating of the objective function)
output layer. may be multiplied at a fixed rate.
Optimization of Dynamic Operation Crossover

using a Genetic Algorithm (GA)
Change of generation is repeated, adding the
Chromosome Model genetic manipulation of crossover to chromosomes
to maintain diversity (an evaluative process). In
Dynamic operation planning of the microgrid is the chromosome code, when arriving at the last
optimized using a GA based on the solar cell generation, a fitness value decides the individual
output power model (the PAS predictive data and most suited to be the optimal operating method.
the past average weather data). Figure 5 express- In the crossover calculation, two parent chromo-
es the chromosome code used by the proposed somes are selected by the crossover probability
GA. One chromosome (individual) consists of 24 Pcros given beforehand, and the crossover position
genes. Each gene shows the operational status of common to both of parent chromosomes is de-
the various pieces of generating equipment that cided at random. The genes of both of the parent
are on the grid during each time step in the date chromosomes are rearranged bordering on the
dw . With the number of the pieces of generating crossover position, and the chromosome with a
equipment introduced into the grid being called new gene is generated.
N gen , the value of each gene is an integer between
Analysis Flow of Operation Planning
0 and N gen . The genes of the initial generations
chromosome are decided using random numbers. Analysis flow of the operation planned optimiza-
tion of the microgrid by the proposal GA is shown
Multiplication and Selection in Figure 6. In the Calculation part (a) of the
figure, an electricity demand pattern, a solar cell
By decoding the genes in a chromosome, the output power model (PAS or output power pattern
operation condition ngen ,i,t of the generating of the solar cell based on the past average weath-
equipment in Time t can be obtained. By giving er data), and the parameter of GA are inputted.
ngen ,i,t to Equation (3), EOT t is calculable. The initial generations chromosome group is
generated in Calculation part (b). In Calculation
Furthermore, the value of the objective function part (c), the fitness value of all the chromosomes
of each chromosome is calculated from Equation is calculated and the order of chromosomes is
(4). The software implementation is such that the decided at Calculation part (d) according to the
Figure 5. Chromosome code used for genetic algorithm
289
Figure 6. Calculaton flow of the optimal operation plan using GA
magnitude of their fitness values. Chromosomes under crossover probability, a crossover position
of large fitness value are made to increase in is decided at random, and genes are exchanged.
number at a fixed rate, while chromosomes of In Calculation part (c), (d), (e), the calculation of
small fitness value are deleted. In Calculation part the fitness value, the operation of arranging chro-
(e), a parent chromosome is chosen at random mosomes in order of fitness value, and exchange
290
of the gene by crossover is done. These operations specification were decided from the reference
are calculated and repeated until we reach the (Obara & Tanno, 2007). The analysis conditions
final generation number. In the last generations of the solar cell, battery, each converter used in
chromosomes, an individual with the highest fit- the simulation, and an inverter are shown in Table
ness value is decided to be the optimal solution. 1. The loss of charge efficiency, discharge effi-
By decoding the chromosome code of the optimal ciency, and natural discharge are all included in
solution, operation of the generating equipment the table.
in each time step of date dw can be planned.
Analysis Conditions
Case Analysis
1. Power Load
Analysis System The time average of the electricity demand pat-
tern of nine houses in the representation day of
In this case analysis, we assume the introduction the every month of Sapporo is shown in Figure
of the microgrid into nine houses in Sapporo. In 7 (Narita, 1996). Air conditioning load is not in-
this Section, the difference of the operation plan cluded in the electricity demand pattern of Figure
when introducing the proposal method or the past 7 and it is assumed that there are four residents
average weather data is investigated. The generat- per house on the average. Space heating load is
ing equipment introduced into the microgrid shall supplied with engine exhaust heat, and cooling
be structured in five sets, and the power output load is unnecessary. Although the actual electric-
of each piece of generating equipment shall be
1kW. As described in next Section, the power load
introduced into this case analysis has a maximum
of about 7.5 kW (Figure 7).
The solar cell is a flat plate type of polycrys-
talline silicon, and installs the cell of area 150 m2
facing south by sloping 30 degrees. Since the area
of the solar cell installed in an average house is
20 to 40 m2, the capacity of the solar cell linked
to the proposal microgrid is equivalent to 4 to 7
houses. The battery introduced into the system is
a nickel hydrogen type. The performance and
Figure 7. Power demand of the nine-houses microgrid in Sapporo
291
ity demand pattern changes sharply on short time tion, the 20 chromosome codes (that is, 5% of the
scales, a gradually varying time-averaged value population) with the largest fitness values are
is used throughout this Section. made to increase their number in the next genera-
tion. The crossover probability is set to 0.2. The
2. Amount of Solar Radiation and Outdoor generation number was set to 10 because of the
Air Temperature large total number of chromosome codes. These
In this case analysis we will investigate about parameters of GA were arrived at by a trial-and-
six days, from the 2nd day to 7th day in each of error method, and the final values decided using
March, June, September, and December (the 1st analysis accuracy as a reference.
day of every month is used to check the prediction
of the PAS analysis). Figures 8 and 9 show the Analysis Results
measured amount of solar radiation and outside
temperature for seven days in every month from Prediction of Solar Cell
1990 to 2004 in Sapporo. The daily fluctuations Output Power Via PAS
in the amount of solar radiation are typically large
when compared to the daily fluctuations of the 1. Relationship between Prediction Start Time
outdoor air temperature in every month. and Analysis Accuracy
Figure 10 shows the predicted amount of solar
3. GA Parameters radiation on June 6, 2007 in a south-facing set
In this case analysis, the number of an initial of 30 distinct angular orientations, calculated
generations chromosome codes is 8000. In the using PAS. In Figure 10, it will be the present
genetic manipulation of multiplication and selec- time in 5, 8, and 11, and will be each prediction
Figure 8. The slope-face amount of solar radiation in Sapporo in 1990 to 2004. 30 degrees of the angle,
for south.
292
Figure 9. Outside temperature data in Sapporo in 1990 to 2004
start time in 6, 9, and 12. Actual data refers to the Prediction Error of PAS, and Operation
weather data measured on June 6, 2007. We see Method of Generating Equipment
that the difference between past average weather
data and actual data is larger than the difference 1. Operation Planning of Generating Equip-
between the actual data and the predicted results. ment
Moreover, the data that came from using a start Figure 12 shows the result of the dynamic op-
time of 9 or 12 are closer to the actual data than erations analysis on March 2, 2007. In order to
that which came from using a start time of 6. In investigate the influence of operation planning
the result of Figure 10, if there is a large power on battery efficiency, we here set the battery
input when using the weather data measured at efficiency to 100%. The battery efficiency in
that day (accordingly, the prediction start time is Table 1 means charge-and-discharge efficiency.
late), the analysis accuracy will have improved. In analyses other than Figure 12, the battery ef-
In the analysis using PAS or later, prediction start ficiency shown in Table 2 is used. Accordingly,
time is 6 oclock. the loss based on battery efficiency is not taken
into consideration in Figure 12. Figure 12 shows
2. Prediction Result in Every Month the calculation result except charge-and-discharge
The result based on the prediction result of solar loss of the battery, in order to clarify the power
cell output power, actual value, and past average balance about consumption, the solar cell, and
weather data (Homepage of Japan Meteorological the generator equipment. Figure 12 (a) shows the
Agency, 2007; NEDO Technical information data result of operation planning of generating equip-
base, 2008) of having used PAS in representation ment using the solar cell output power prediction
days every month is shown in Figure 11. One can generated by PAS. On the other hand, Figure
see from Figure 11 that in many cases one gets 12 (b) shows the result of operation planning of
closer to the actual value by using the PAS pre- generating equipment using the actual amount of
diction than one would get by using past average solar radiation and outdoor air temperature. If the
weather data. PAS generated solar cell output power is the same
293
Figure 10. Solar radiation in 30-degree slope of the south sense using PAS, and actual solar radiation.
Prediction start time of PAS, and the characteristic of prediction solar radiation.
Figure 11. PAS prediction results and the actual value of the solar cell output in Sapporo
294
Figure 12. Results of the dynamic operation plan of the microgrid system (March 2, 2007)
295
Table 2. Conditions of the system components
as that coming from actual data then the optimal under the same conditions. Figure 12 (g) shows
operation planning method is shown in Figure the result of operation planning of generating
12 (a). However, one must also note that errors equipment. When Figure 12 (c) is compared with
are introduced in the PAS predictions and actual Figure 12 (g), one sees that distinct methods of
operation may more closely resemble the result planning for generating equipment begin to de-
of Figure 12 (c). Accordingly, the output power liver noticeably divergent results after about time
of the generating equipment as controlled by PAS 15. This happens as the output power models of
and that controlled by actual weather conditions the solar cell introduced into operation planning
are compared, and the system is operated in such a begin to produce diverging results. Accordingly,
way as to accommodate the worst conditions (this the accuracy of the output power prediction gen-
is a typical way of doing things in similar systems). erated by PAS has a large influence on operation
planning of the generating equipment the capacity
2. Operation Planning of Battery planning of the battery.
Figure 12 (d) shows the results that come from
the operation planning of a battery when using Result of Dynamic Operation Planning
either PAS predictions or actual data to calculate
the solar cell output power. One sees that the 1. Operation Planning of Microgrid based on
operating characteristics of the battery greatly the PAS and the Past Average Weather Data
influence the method and duration of operation of Figure 13, shows the result of dynamic operation
the generating equipment. Looking at Figure 12 planning of the system (including generating
(d), one sees that, in at least two different places, equipment and batteries) when using either past
there is a significant difference in the battery average weather data or PAS prediction data as
capacity calculated in the two different schemes. the solar cell output power model. The error in
the solar cell output power in Figure 13 is the
3. Output Characteristics of the Solar Cell, difference between the output determined by
and Operation Planning a given simulation and that determined from
Figure 12 (e) shows the operation planning of the actual weather conditions. In operation of an
generating equipment when using either past aver- actual microgrid, a difference is in the solar cell
age weather data or actual weather data. Figure 12 output power model described in the introduction,
(f) shows the resultant battery capacity planning and the solar cell output power operating under
296
Figure 13. Dynamic operation planning based on the past average weather data and the PAS predicted
data. In the analysis, the influence on operation planning by the error of the past average weather
data and the PAS predictive data to actual weather is not taking into condition.
297
actual weather conditions. As previous Section 2. Actual System Operation using the PAS
described, in dynamic operations planning us- If a difference occurs in the solar cell output
ing the solar cell output power model, additional power based on the PAS predictive value and
operation of generating equipment is expected in actual weather conditions, the operation of gen-
an unfavorable condition. For example we see, in erating equipment will follow the method de-
Figure 13 (b), that the partial output power of the scribed below. Power balance (Equation (2)) of
generating equipment on December 5 (calculated the microgrid in the sampling time t is calcu-
in the past average weather data scheme) exceeds lated, and when electricity demand exceeds sup-
5 kW, the maximum power of the proposed sys- ply, the generating equipment starts operation
tem. We can make sense of this as the smallest immediately. The amount of pieces of generating
amount of solar radiation comes in the month of equipment sent into operation at this time is de-
December. Because of this, the solar cell output cided to be the minimum number plausible to
power grows small and the discrepancy with past avoid the case where the power supply exceeds
average weather data grows large. Thus, if the the demand. However, it is not this limitation
error between the model output power and the when large electricity demand is predicted at
actual output power is large, the working time of later time from the analysis of dynamic operation
the generating equipment is expected to increase. planning in that case. Accordingly, when demand
In comparison, for operations planning using the is expected to exceed the maximum power supply
PAS predictive data (see Figure 13), the generat- (5kW), we can increase the number of pieces of
ing equipment is never asked to exceed 5 kW in equipment in operation beforehand. Figure 14
the entire month of December. We see here that shows the operation of the generating equipments
operations planning by PAS is at an advantage and battery as a result of adding the modification
over planning with past average weather data. (the operation method described in the above)
Figure 14. Results of the dynamic operation planning of the power generator with PAS prediction. The
error of the PAS predictive data to the actual weather is taking into consideration.
298
concerning a prediction error to operation plan- data. Moreover, Figure 16 shows the reduction in
ning using PAS shown in Figure 13. Figure 14 the total equipment working hours due to using
shows operation planning of the generating equip- the PAS prediction data rather than using the past
ment using PAS predictive data, as well as op- average weather data. By introducing PAS into
eration planning with adjustment of PAS predic- dynamic operation planning of the microgrid, the
tion error (here called Adjustment value). In working time of generating equipment is reduced,
actual operation of a microgrid, operation plan- as compared to using past average weather data,
ning with PAS and with operation planning of from 3% to 30%.
the generating equipment by PAS predictive data
and operation plans by adjustment value in each Conclusions
sampling time are compared, while a large
power output is being performed. The operations planning of the microgrid was
investigated here using a proposed algorithm.
3. Hours of Operation of Generating Equip- Operation of the proposed microgrid was analyzed
ment using actual weather data (amount of solar radia-
Figure 15 shows the result of operating the gener- tion and outside temperature) collected from the 1st
ating equipment in the microgrid according to the to the 7th in the months March, June, September,
method described in previous Section. When the and December of 2007 in Sapporo. However, it
hours of operation using past average weather data is thought that the following results change by
and PAS prediction data are compared, there is few the introductory region of the microgrid. If the
hours worked method when introducing PAS to all analysis method described in this Section is intro-
the month. The advantageous operation method duced into various places, the microgrid system in
can be obtain from this rather than the operation consideration of regionality will be constructed.
planning method using the past average weather The following Conclusions have been obtained:
Figure 15. Result of the generator hours of operation and analyzed under the past average weather data
and the PAS predictive data. Consideration with error to the actual value is added.
299
Figure 16. Reduction rate of the power generator operation hours in the case of introducing sult of the
generator hours of operation and analyzed under the past average weather data. Consideration with
error to the actual value is added.
1. If the PAS predictive value is introduced as OPERATION PREDICTION

the predictive value of solar cell output power OF A BIOETHANOL SOLAR
compared with the past average weather data, REFORMING SYSTEM USING
the working time of the generating equipment A NEURAL NETWORK
can be reduced from 30% to 3%. However,
working time of generating equipment is Introduction
under the influenced of battery capacity.
2. However, there is the possibility that in Hydrogen supplied to a fuel cell is produced from
seasons with only a small amount of solar fossil fuel, fuel alcohol, water electrolysis, etc.
radiation, if the prediction error of PAS is The environmental impact of the fuel cell changes
large, the original operation planning will with these hydrogen production methods. When
change greatly. In this case, a storage ca- distributing small-scale fuel cells to an urban area,
pacity over and above the capability of the installation of steam reforming of natural gas is
generating equipment introduced into the influential (Nogare et al., 2007; Radulescu, 2006).
microgrid is predicted. When introducing Hydrogen production methods not dependent
the proposal analysis method into areas other on fossil fuel have been investigated (Schenk,
than Sapporo, it is necessary to investigate 2007; Pengmei, 2007). We are investigating the
the relation between following important technique of bioethanol steam reforming using
factors and system operation plan. daylight as a heat source (Obara & Tanno, 2007).
a. Influence of space cooling load and In the proposed system, hydrogen is produced
space heating load. by bioethanol steam reforming, and a proton-
b. Influence of a rainy season with a small exchange-membrane fuel cell (PEFC) is oper-
amount of solar radiation. ated. The heat of a Condensing Solar Collector is
300
used for evaporation and steam reforming of the at high speed, installation in the controller will
bioethanol fuel. In the utilization of bioethanol, be possible. As a result, it is expected that the
CO2 is hardly discharged. As renewable energy results of this study will contribute to the spread
is used as the heat source, the proposed system of distributed installation of fuel cells.
is very clean equipment. However, the amounts
of hydrogen production of this system differ ac- System Configuration
cording to the weather, time, season, installation
location, etc. There are many examples of the Fuel Cell System with Bioethanol
relation of meteorological data to the energy de- Solar Reforming System (FBSR)
mand of buildings (Ueno, 2006; Laouadi, 2004),
In this chapter, when the weather pattern and the Figure 17 is a block diagram of the fuel cell sys-
energy-demand pattern are inputted, a program that tem with the bioethanol solar reforming system
outputs the operation of the system is developed. (referred to as FBSR) (Obara & Tanno, 2007).
We have been developing an analysis program In the FBSR, two paraboloid rotating mirrors
of the dynamic operation planning of an energy (described as Condensing Solar Collectors) that
system using a genetic algorithm (referred to have a solar tracking system are used. The high-
as GA) (Obara & Kudo, 2005). However, a GA density solar energy in Condensing Solar Collector
cannot predict the operation of an energy system. A is used for vaporization of the bioethanol fuel.
Moreover, the analysis time becomes very long The solar energy in Condensing Solar Collector
with the increase in design variables. The optimal B is used as the heat source to reform the fuel
solution analyzed with a GA is used as the training steam. The type and the condensing ratio of the
signal of the neural network (referred to as NN) Condensing Solar Collectors A and B differ. We
(Hastie, 2001). If the NN is made to learn based on are also evaluating the basic property of a con-
a training signal, an operation result similar to the densing solar collector (Sun and Ice BmbH, n. d.)
optimal solution can be predicted in a short time which will be reported in another study. When
under arbitrary conditions (weather condition and setting the condensing ratio from 1:120 to 1:150
energy-demand pattern). There have been many and examining in Tomakomai at a time of clear
cases of operation planning of energy systems sky in summertime, the condensing temperature
using a NN until now (Al-Alawi et al., 2007; exceeds 673K. When solar energy cannot be used,
Sanino & Reischel, 2007). However, operation it generates electricity using the reformed gas
prediction of a dynamic system containing green stored in the cylinder, or commercial power is
energy has not been achieved. If this prediction supplied. In order to reduce CO, a shifter and CO
method is realized, the optimum configuration for oxidation equipment are installed. As reformed
the area of introduction of the bioethanol solar gas contains a lot of steam, when compressing
reforming system can be proposed. The cost of and storing reformed gas, moisture is removed
equipment can be reduced because equipment by the cooler. Reformed gas is supplied to the
capacity is optimized. Moreover, if the dynamic fuel cell and the power is converted into regular
optimum operation of the system is calculable voltage and a regular frequency with a DC-DC
301
Figure 17. Fuel cell system with bioethanol solar reforming system (FBSR)
converter and an inverter. This power is supplied Control of Reformed Fuel

to an individual house or a power grid through
an interconnection device. The exhaust heat of The S/C (mole ratio of steam to ethanol) of the
the cooler, the fuel cell, and the CO oxidization steady-state value of the reformed fuel supplied to
equipment shown respectively in Figure 17 is the vaporizer equipment is 3.0. Moreover, the SV
supplied to the heat storage tank, and this heat is value (space velocity) in the catalyst layer in the
supplied to the demand side. solar reformer unit is 3000 hour-1, the conversion
ratio of the reformed gas is 95%, the methanization
Installation Method of FBSR rate is 5%, and the CO generation percentage is
10% (Urasaki, U., (2005)). When there is little solar
Introducing the FBSR into a microgrid is con- radiation, the SV value is controlled to maintain
sidered. Expected benefits from the microgrid the reaction temperature of the reforming unit at
are backup power supply in case of emergency, 673K or more.
reduction of environmental impact, and peak cut
off for the power plant (Obara, 2007). Moreover, Storage of Reformed Gas
effective use of exhaust heat is possible and total
efficiency is improved compared with the con- The water content in the reformed gas is removed
ventional power generation system. However, using the dryer. The pressure of this gas is P0 and
in the case study of this chapter, the example of the quantity of flow is U 0,t . This gas is pressurized
introducing FBSR into one house is investigated.
( Pcp = 10MPa ) and stored with a compressor.
This case is the simplest system.
The work of compressor Wp,t is supposed to be
302
the work of compression of the ideal gas, and is using the mass balance, and the hydrogen quan-
calculated using Equation (5). cp is the overall tity of flow (Q SR ) in the solar reforming unit
compressor efficiency. In the case study, cp is outlet. C in the equation expresses the conver-
set at 50% assuming a real machine. The power sion ratio.
consumed with the compressor is supplied from
the fuel cell. Hydrogen Balance:
Q SR + Q HC + Q EX = Q OU + Q OU Q SU
(
Wp,t = P0 U 0,t ln Pcp P0 ) cp (5) (8)
Steam Reforming of Bioethanol:

Energy and Mass Balance
C2 H5OH + 3H2O 2CO2 + 6H2 173kJ/mol
Energy Balance
(9)
Equations (6) and (7) express the balance of the
power and heat, respectively. The left-hand side Q SR = 0.2746 C Q BE (10)
of each equation expresses inputs, and the right-
hand side expresses outputs. IT and CT in Operation Prediction
Equation (6) are the efficiency of the inverter and Program of the SRF
the DC-DC converter, respectively. Moreover,
E AUX expresses the demand of auxiliary machin- Operation Prediction Algorithm
ery. H on the right-hand side of Equation (7)
Loss
Changing the equipment will not be easy if an
is the heat loss of the system.
actual system is built. Therefore, optimization
considering annual operation is required. Figure
Power Balance:
18 shows the preparation procedure of the opera-
tion prediction algorithm of the SRF developed
IT CT E CS + E CC = E SYS + E AUX (6)
in this chapter. In the operation prediction using
the NN, as shown in Figure 18, it is necessary to
Heat Balance: perform the learning process first. The training
signal used for the learning calculation is previ-
H CL + H CS + H OU + H ST ously calculated by the GA. The training signal is
(7)
+H BL = H SYS + H Loss the optimal solution of the dynamic operation plan
on a representative day. Moreover, the input data
given to the NN are the past weather pattern (the
Mass Balance global solar radiation and the outside air tempera-
ture at each time on January 1, 2006 to December
Equation (8) expresses the mass balance of hy- 31) and the past energy-demand pattern (average
drogen, and Equation (9) expresses the reaction value of every month for every time of power and
formula of the steam reforming of ethanol. Equa- heat demand). In the learning calculation by the
tion (10) expresses the relation between the NN, as described in following sections, the weights
quantity of flow of bioethanol (Q BE ) calculated of the network of each neuron are determined. If
303
Figure 18. Procedure of the SRF prediction algorithm
Ln 1
the learning calculation of the NN finishes, the
x nj = w j , k
n , n 1
outkn 1 (11)
weather pattern and energy-demand pattern of k =1
arbitrary days is given to the NN. As a result, the
collecting areas of Solar Collectors A and B, the
Output out jn of neuron j in n layer is given
cylinder capacity of the reformed gas, and the
capacity of the heat storage tank are obtained. with the sigmoid function of input x nj , as shown
in Equation (12).
Structure of the Neural Network
1
out jn = (12)
The structure of the layered neural network intro-
duced in this chapter is shown in Figure 19. This
1 + exp x nj ( )
neural network consists of three layers, the input,
the medium, and the output. All the neurons be- Learning Calculation
tween each layer of the NN are connected with
networks. Each neuron is outputted to output 1. The Learning Method
n , n 1
layer So,k , j according to the magnitude of the All weight w j , k
in the NN shown in Figure 19
input. Input-output between the neurons of n 1 using the error-correction learning method is
layer and n layer is shown in Figure 20. Input determined. So, the past weather pattern and the
x nj of neuron j in n layer is calculable using energy-demand pattern in a building are given to
n , n 1
output outkn1 and weight w j , k of neuron k of the NN. Training signals are solutions of the
operation plan on the representative day previ-
n 1 layer, as shown in Equation (11): n , n 1
ously calculated by the GA. When w j , k is de-
Where j = 1, , Ln and k = 1, , Ln 1 .
cided by learning of the NN, the error of the
304
Figure 19. Layered neural network of the proposed system
training signal and the data of the output layer Amount of modifications w j , k
n , n 1
in Equation
can be evaluated from Equation (13). This error
(14) is expressed with Equation (15). The term
is expressed as ErrN , and the NN is made to learn,
n , n 1
of the partial differential of the right-hand side of
changing weight w j , k
so that ErrN may approach Equation (15) is calculable by Equations (16) and
zero. (13) (Murakami and Izumida Lab, 2007).
n , n 1 n , n 1
1 n
L
w j,k = w nj ,,kn 1 + w j , k (14)
( )
2
ErrN = y j out jN (13)
2 j =1
n , n 1 ErrN ErrN
2. Modification of Weights w j , k = n , n 1
= out jn 1
w j , k x nj
n , n 1
Corrected weight w j , is expressed with Equa-
k
(15)
tion (14) using the weight before modification
n , n 1
w nj ,,kn 1 and amount of modifications w j , k . At the case of n = N
305
Figure 20. Input and output of the neuron

3. Analysis Flow of the Learning Process
Figure 21 shows the analysis flow of the learning
n , n 1
process of the NN. All weights w j , k
are first
determined at random, and learning rate in
Equation (15) is given to the program. Next, input
data x nj described in previous sections and train-
ing signal y j described at the bottom are inputted
into the program, and input x nj and output out jn
of each neuron are calculated. Equation (16) is
calculated sing out jn and y j , and Equation (17)
is calculated further. These results are introduced
n , n 1
into Equation (15), and w j , k are calculated.
When this value is given to Equation (14), the
weight of each neuron can be updated. The
analysis error is calculated using Equation (13),
and calculation will finish if this value is smaller
than the value set up previously. On the other
hand, when the analysis error is larger than the
value set up previously, as shown in Figure 21,
the process is returned and calculated repeatedly.
Preparation of the Training Signal using

a GA
1. Dynamic Operation Plan of a Representa-

tive Day
A GA can investigate optimization of the nonlinear
ErrN problem of many variables. However, determina-
x nj
( ) (
= y j x jN out jN 1 out jN ) tion of the solution parameter (the population of
(16) chromosomes, selection, mutation probability,
crossover probability, generation number) con-
At the case of n < N cerning genetic manipulation requires many trials.
Moreover, because a GA has the characteristic of
Ln Err
random search, the analysis time will be long when
ErrN n +1, n
x nj
= N
l =1 x n +1
w l, j

( )
out j 1 out j
n n
the design variables increase in number. Therefore,
j

when the operation plan of the FBSR is analyzed
(17) by a GA, a very long time to try will be required.
306
Figure 21. Analysis flow of the NN learning peocess
On the other hand, with the NN, although based energy is supplied from the fuel cell. Although
on the network structure of the neurons, the time tgs and tge can be determined arbitrarily, in the
to try is short compared with GA calculation. So, case study in following section, it is set at 23:00
in this chapter, the training signal of the NN is and 07:00. This time zone is set at midnight
prepared using a GA and actual operation predic- power in many domestic electric power companies.
tion is analyzed only by the NN.
3. Chromosome Model and Analysis Flow
2. Start Time of System Operation The collecting area of Solar Collector B of the
Figure 22 shows the case of the power-demand FBSR is expressed with the chromosome code
pattern in a building and the operation pattern of shown in Figure 23. The chromosome code is
the system. In this figure, solar radiation is obtained 13-bit genetic code of 0 or 1. Figure 24 shows
with a Condensing Solar Collector in period Rdh the analysis flow for obtaining training signals
from 06:00 to 18:00. In this case, start time tst of using the GA. Many chromosome codes are
the system operation is 06:00. In insufficient time generated, and the adaptive values (objective
zones, the system generates electricity using the function) described in the following section for
reformed gas stored during the daytime. In period all the chromosomes are calculated. Chromosome
R of time tgs to time tge shown in Figure 22, groups with a low adaptive value are exchanged
307
Figure 22. Operation plan of a representative day
Figure 23. Chromosome code.here
for chromosome groups newly generated at ran- repeated by the number of generation numbers set
dom. Moreover, handling of the crossover and up previously. In the last generation, it is decided
the mutation are added to chromosomes and that the chromosome with the highest adaptive
diversity is maintained. These calculations are value is the optimal solution. The collecting area
308
Figure 24. Analysis flow of the training signal using GA
of Solar Collector B is decided by decoding this heat storage tank are expressed as VH and Vhw ,
chromosome code. Using this result, the cylinder
2
respectively, objective function fo of the system

capacity of the reformed gas, the capacity of the
heat storage tank, and the collecting area of Solar is given in Equation (19). wo,1 , wo,2 , and wo,3 in
Collector A are calculated. The maximum value Equation (19) express the weight of each term. In
of the quantity of reformed gas and exhaust heat this chapter, it is decided that the adaptive value
to be stored at each time on a representative day in the GA is a high solution, so that the value of
is decided as the capacity of the reformed gas fo is small. Moreover, the reformed gas cylinder
cylinder and the heat storage tank. The collecting and the heat storage tank are designed to be as
area of Solar Collector A is calculated from the small as possible. In this objective function, the
heat quantity required to reform bioethanol fuel supply-and-demand balance error of power is
by Solar Collector B. minimized. Furthermore, the reforming gas cyl-
inder and the heat storage tank are made small,
4. Objective Function and Adaptive Value and the whole system is miniaturized.
Equation (18) expresses the sum total of the dif-
ference in the power of the system and demand tge
on a representative day. When the cylinder capac- Errday = E N E SYS (18)

tgs
ity of the reformed gas and the capacity of the
309
of a house (Japan Meteorological Agency, 2007).

fo = wo,1 Errday + wo,2 VH + wo,3 Vhw
2 Operation prediction of the FBSR on arbitrary
(19) days is calculable by giving the learning NN the
weather pattern and the energy-demand pattern.
Case Study
Characteristics of the System
Analysis System
The single-cell performance of the PEFC is shown
Operation of the system when the FBSR shown in Figure 25. This performance is obtained from
in Figure 17 is introduced into an individual house the experiments in the references (Mikkola, M.,
is predicted. The energy demanded of the indi- (2001), Ibaraki Prefecture Government Office of
vidual house used as input data introduces the Education, (2002)). The maximum output point of
data of the reference 15). Moreover, the database the single cell is decided as 100% of a load factor in
of the Japan Meteorological Agency is used con- this chapter. Figure 26 shows the relation between
cerning outside air temperature and global solar the load factor and the power density prepared
radiation. The reference (Obara & Tanno, 2007) from single-cell performance. The characteristics
has described the calculation method of the amount shown in Figure 26 are divided into three areas, and
of direct solar radiation obtained by the Condens- approximate expressions are shown in this figure.
ing Solar Collector. Operation of the system is When the production of electricity of the PEFC
taken as the pattern shown in Figure 22 where, is decided, the generation efficiency, the power
tgs = 08:00 and tge = 21:00. The data inputted into density, and the amount of exhaust heat will be
the NN by learning calculation are the weather decided from Figures 25 and 26. The conditions
pattern in 2006 and the energy-demand pattern of the system components used in analysis are
shown in Table 3.
Figure 25. Cell stack power output
310
Figure 26. Relation between load factor and power output of the cell stack
Table 3. Parameters of the GA
Analysis Condition The analytical object is an individual house in

Sapporo with the weather pattern and the energy-
The parameters introduced into the analysis of demand pattern shown in Figure 27. There is no
the GA and the NN are shown in Tables 3 and cooling load in the summer season, and hot water
4, respectively. These values were determined supply, baths, and space heating load are in-
by applying a trial-and-error method for many cluded in the heat demand. Moreover, the load of
analyses. When operation of the FBSR is ana- electric lights and household appliances is in-
lyzed by the NN using the conditions in Table cluded in the power demand, and there is no large
4, the computation time is 90 to 110 times faster difference in each month.
compared with the GA.
311
Table 4. Parameters of the NN
Figure 27. Meteororogical pattern and energy demand pattern in Sapporo
In the operation plan in this chapter, the prior- the collecting area of Solar Collectors A and B, the
ity of design variables is in order of the collecting cylinder capacity of the reformed gas (expressed
area of the solar collector, the cylinder capacity with hydrogen quantity), and the capacity of the
of the reformed gas, and the capacity of the heat heat storage tank, respectively. The rate of energy
storage tank. Then, weights wo,1 , wo,2 and wo,3 , supplied every month from the FBSR to the power-
of the objective function shown in Equation (19) and heat-demand amount of a representative day
is set at 0.7, 0.2, and 0.1, respectively. is shown in Figure 28 (c).
Results of Operation Prediction 1. Difference for Every Year

In order to examine the difference for every year,
Preparation of Training Signal the collecting areas of the solar collector in January,
November, and December in 2004 to 2006 were
Figure 28 shows the result of the operation plan of analyzed. Since January, November, and Decem-
the FBSR by the GA that introduced the weather ber have small solar radiation, their difference in
pattern in 2006. Figures 28 (a) and 28 (b) express the collecting area of the solar collector is larger
312
Figure 28. Analysis results of the operation plan using GA
than in other months. These results are shown in tions (18) and (19)) of the FBSR. Therefore, the
Figure 28 (a). The difference of every month of power supply rate from the FBSR is high compared
these years was 12% at maximum. to demand.
2. The Cylinder Capacity of the Reformed Operation Prediction by the NN

Gas and Capacity of the Heat Storage Tank
As shown in Figure 28 (b), the change of the 1. Highest Analytic Accuracy of the NN
cylinder capacity of the reformed gas is less than Operation of the system is predicted by the learning
12%, which is small compared with the heat storage NN using the same input data introduced by the
capacity. The reason is the objective function of learning process of the NN. These analysis results
the system described in the following section. On have the highest accuracy in the proposed NN.
the other hand, because the heat-demand amount Figure 29 shows the analysis result in this case.
changes greatly with the season, the change in the Except for the amount of hydrogen storage, there
heating storage capacity every month is large. is less than 1% error. The largest error in hydrogen
storage is 1.7%. From this result, with the differ-
3. Amount of Energy Supplied from the FBSR ence of input data and the data of the learning
As shown in Figure 28 (c), the power supplied process, system operation can be predicted with
from the FBSR is 67% to 76% of the demand. an accuracy of less than several percent.
However, the heat supplied from the FBSR is 3%
to 47%, differing greatly according to the season. 2. Analytic Accuracy of Operation Prediction
Supplying energy for the power demand from tgs Figure 30 shows the analysis error when adding
to tge is included in the objective function (Equa- 5%, 10%, and 20% of fluctuation at random
to the power-demand pattern introduced into
313
Figure 29. Calculation error of Neural network to GA
Figure 30. Analysis results of the neural network in the case of with power change
314
learning of the NN. Figure 31 shows the analysis has diversity. But the maximum value with error
error when adding 10%, 30%, and 50% of converges on the constant range. When operation
fluctuation at random to the weather pattern (the of the system is predicted from the input data with
outside air temperature and the global solar ra- 20% of load fluctuation added to the power load
diation) used by the learning process of the NN. of the learning process, the analysis errors of the
However, when loads are added to input data at solar collecting area, the cylinder capacity of the
random, the pattern of the analysis error of the NN reformed gas, and the heating storage capacity
Figure 31. Analysis results of the neural network in the case of with outside temperature and solar ra-
diation change
315
are 6%, 14%, and 11%, respectively. On the other operation analysis error of the proposal algorithm
hand, when operation of the system is predicted is 16% at the maximum. The fluctuating range of
from the input data with 50% of load fluctuation the power, outside air temperature and amount of
added to the outside air temperature and the global solar radiation was determined in consideration of
solar radiation of the learning process, the analysis the actual design. Especially prediction of outdoor
errors of the solar collecting area, the cylinder air temperature and the amount of global solar
capacity of the reformed gas, and the heating stor- radiation is difficult. But the analytic accuracy
age capacity are 16%, 13%, and 14%, respectively. realized in this chapter is available enough to a
In the operation prediction program of the FBSR design and operation plan of the system.
developed in this chapter, accurate analysis within
the limits described above is possible.
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318
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
E : Power [W]
E N : Power demand [W]
E : Production of electricity of the system [W]
SYS
E AUX : Consumption power of auxiliary the machinery [W]

ELF : Load factor
Errday : Difference of the power generation of the system and demand in a representativeday [W]
ErrN : Error of the output data and training signal of the NN
fo : Objective function
H : Heat [W]
H : Heat loss [W]
Loss
i , j , k : The number of a neuron
Ln : The number of neurons of n layer
N , n : Layer number
outyz : The output of the neuron y of layer z
Pcp : Compression pressure of reformed gas [Pa]
P0 : Reformed gas pressure at the reforming unit outlet [Pa]
Q : Quantity of flow [g/s]
Q OU : Hydrogen quantity lost in CO oxidation unit [g/s]
q : Amount of global solar radiation [W/m2]
R : Operating period of the fuel cell [s]
Rdh : Period of the day light [s]
Sm , j ,i : The intermediate layers neuron connected to j from neuron i
So,k , j : The output layers neuron connected to k from neuron j
T : Outside air temperature [K]
tge : Operation finish time of a fuel cell
tgs : Start-up time of a fuel cell
tst : Sampling start time [oclock]
U 0,t : Reformed gas quantity of flow at the reforming unit outlet [m3/s]
VH : The amount of hydrogen storage [g]
2
Vhw : Exhaust heat quantity to be stored [J]

Wp : Work of the compressor [W]
n, m
w j , i : Weight of the neuron i of layer m , and the network of neuron j of layer n
319
w : Weight before modification

w : Amount of modifications of weight
wo : Weight of the component of the objective function
x yz : Input to the neuron y of layer z
y j : Training signal
Greek Symbols
C : Conversion ratio [%]

CT : Inverter efficiency [%]
IT : DC-DC converter efficiency [%]
cp : Overall compressor efficiency [%]
: Learning rate in the NN
Subscripts
BE: Bioethanol
BL: Boiler
CC: Commercial power
CL: Reformed gas cooler
CS: Cell stack
OU: CO oxidation unit
SR: Solar reforming unit
ST: Heat storage tank
SU: Shift unit
SYS: System
320
321
Chapter 10
Microgrid with Numerical
Weather Information
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Compound Microgrid Installation Operation Planning of a
PEFC and Photovoltaics with Prediction of Electricity Production Using GA and Numerical Weather
Information and Energy Supply Characteristics of a Combined Solar Cell and Diesel Engine System with
a Prediction Algorithm for Solar Power Generation. The optimal operation algorithm of a photovoltaics
compound microgrid is developed using numerical weather information (NWI) in the 1st section. The
relation between the NWI error characteristics and the operation results of the system is clarified. The
2nd section proposes a prediction algorithm based on a neural network to predict the electricity produc-
tion from a solar cell. The operation plan for a combined photovoltaics and diesel engine generator is
examined using the NN prediction algorithm.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION information (NWI) that is freely available. A GA

(genetic algorithm) was developed to minimize
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. A system fuel consumption. Furthermore, the rela-
fuel cell microgrid with photovoltaics effectively tion between the NWI error characteristics and
reduces greenhouse gas emission. A system op- the operation results of the system was clarified.
eration optimization technique with photovoltaics As a result, the optimized operation algorithm
and unstable power is important. In this study, the using NWI reduced the energy cost of the system.
optimal operation algorithm of this compound The summary of the 2nd section is as follows.
microgrid is developed using numerical weather The production of electricity from the solar cells
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch010
Microgrid with Numerical Weather Information
continues to attract interest as a power source for et al., 2006; Jiayi, Chuanwen, & Rong, 2008). A
distributed energy generation. It is important to microgrid using a PEFC (proton exchange mem-
be able to estimate solar cell power to optimize brane fuel cell) may become the mainstream of
system energy management. This section proposes future distributed energy. In addition, the appli-
a prediction algorithm based on a neural network cation of green energy to a microgrid is desired.
(NN) to predict the electricity production from Accordingly, this Section examines the PEFC
a solar cell. The operation plan for a combined and a photovoltaics compound system. Power
solar cell and diesel engine generator system is can be supplied to a grid from each PEFC and
examined using the NN prediction algorithm. Two photovoltaic component in this system. The hy-
systems are examined in this study: one with and drogen supply method to the PEFC assumes that
one without a power storage facility. Comparisons the steam reforms the LPG (liquefied petroleum
are presented of the results from the two systems gas). However, the power generation output char-
with respect to the actual calculations of output acteristics and PEFC exhaust heat with a steam
power and the predicted electricity production reformer are nonlinear with a load factor (Obara,
from the solar cell. The exhaust heat from the en- 2006a). Furthermore, although the power and
gine is used to supply the heat demand. A back-up exhaust heat of the proposed system are utilized
boiler is operated when the engine exhaust heat is effectively, battery installation and a heat storage
insufficient to meet the heat demand. Electricity tank are planned. Consequently, the operation plan
and heat are supplied to the demand side from of the proposed microgrid must be optimized as
the proposed systems, and no external sources a nonlinear system considering electricity and
are used. When the NN production-of-electricity heat storage. Concerning operation optimization
prediction was introduced, the engine generator of a nonlinear system with heat storage, we have
operating time was reduced by2.5% in December summarized the use of a GA (genetic algorithm)
and 16.7% for March and September. Moreover, (Obara, 2006b, 2007a, 2007b). In addition, it is
an operation plan for the combined system exhaust necessary to predict unstable photovoltaic elec-
heat is proposed, and the heat output characteristics tricity production for every sample time while
of the back-up boiler are characterized. optimizing operation of a compound microgrid
with a PEFC and photovoltaics. Accordingly,
numerical weather information (NWI) is used to
COMPOUND MICROGRID predict photovoltaic electricity production (Online
INSTALLATION OPERATION data service, 2009; Data of Japan Meteorological
PLANNING OF A PEFC AND Agency, 2009). Anyone can obtain NWI in Japan
PHOTOVOLTAICS WITH PREDICTION through the Internet. However, there is an error
OF ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION in the photovoltaic electricity production calcu-
USING GA AND NUMERICAL lated using NWI compared to using the actual
WEATHER INFORMATION meteorological data. Consequently, the operation
plan of the system using the NWI differs from
Introduction operation under actual weather. The cause of this
difference in operation is not addressed in this
An energy supply system using a microgrid con- Section. Instead, the relation between the NWI
stitutes the optimal system for energy demand. error and the operation results of the system is
Therefore, its use as a clean energy supply tech- clarified. It is shown that installing the operation
nique is expected to spread (Obara, 2008a; Aki optimization algorithm using NWI is important
322
for operation of a PEFC microgrid with photo- troller. The photovoltaic electricity production for
voltaics. The objective of this study is to develop every sample time in a target day is predicted
an analysis algorithm to optimize operation of a using the NWI (the amount of solar radiation and
PEFC microgrid with green energy. outdoor air temperature) obtained by the system
controller at 0:00 on the target day. Based on this
System Configurations prediction result, the optimal system operation on
the target day is planned by the system controller.
PEFC and Photovoltaics The objective given to the system controller is to
Compound Microgrid minimize fuel (LPG) consumption. As Figure 1
shows, fuel is consumed by a PEFC and a boiler
Figure 1 shows a scheme of a compound microgrid in the proposed system. The optimization analy-
with PEFC and photovoltaics. The compound sis of the operation plan in this Section considers
microgrid consists of a power system and a heat operation of a power system and a heat system.
system. Here, the power system is not connected The NWI used for analysis is the information
with a commercial power system. The power from obtained at 0:00 on a target day. Therefore, the
a PEFC and a solar cell can be supplied simul- NWI does not match actual meteorological data.
taneously to a microgrid. Moreover, these power If a system is employed according to the first
sources can accumulate electricity using a battery. optimization plan (the plan is made at 0:00 on the
The hydrogen (reformed gas) supplied to a PEFC target day), then depending on the magnitude of
is produced from LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) this error, the fuel consumption may get worse.
using a steam reformer. For example, the operation hours of a PEFC and
Each piece of equipment of the power system a boiler may be extended under the actual weath-
and the heat system is operated by a system con- er conditions. Investigating the relation between
Figure 1. System scheme
323
the NWI error and system fuel consumption The relation between the load factor and
evaluates the operation optimization algorithm power generation efficiency of a PEFC with a
using NWI. reformer, load factor and heat generation effi-
ciency is nonlinear. Figure 3 shows the relation
System Operation of the load factor and power generation effi-
ciency of a home fuel cell with an LPG reformer
Figure 2 shows power demand (a) on a representa- released by Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. (Development of
tive day, heat demand (d), electricity production home fuel cell cogeneration system in Tokyo Gas,
and exhaust heat of PEFC (b), (e), the operation 2009). As shown in Figure 3 (a), power generation
model of a battery (c) and the operation model efficiency also falls according to load decreases.
of heat storage and the boiler (f). Predicted pho- Therefore, the PEFC operates well under high
tovoltaic electricity production based on the load. Accordingly, as shown in Figure 2 (b), it is
NWI obtained at 23:00 on a representative day desirable to operate the PEFC near its maximum
is shown in Figures 2 (a) and (d). Furthermore, efficiency point. When the PEFC is operated near
the photovoltaic electricity production obtained the maximum efficiency point, exhaust heat of
under actual weather conditions at each time is the PEFC is an output characteristic, shown in
shown in this figure. Figure 2 (e). Operation of the PEFC in the periods
Figure 2. System operation planning of the compound microgrid installation of a PEFC and photovoltics
with prediction of electricity
324
Figure 3. Efficiency characteristics of the PEFC with steam reformer
from t0 to t1 and t8 to t9 in Figures 2 (b) and (e) sentative day is calculated as shown in Figure 1.
are the optimal operation plan based on predicted RT in Eq (1) is the temperature coefficient, and
solar power shown in Figures 2 (a) and (d). On when the temperature Tc,t of the solar cell rises,
the other hand, operation of PEFC in the periods power generation efficiency will fall. To is a
from t2 to t4 , t7 to t8 and t10 to t11 in Figures 2
reference temperature, and s is the power gen-
(b) and (e) covers the photovoltaic shortage com-
eration efficiency under To . The temperature Tc,t
pared to the actual solar power (the actual solar
power is smaller than the predicted solar power), of the solar cell is calculated from the specific
as shown in Figures 2 (a) and (d). When there is heat of the polycrystalline silicon and the amount
little actual solar power compared to the pre- of solar radiation at sampling time t . When the
dicted solar power, additional PEFC operation is intensities of direct solar and sky solar radiation
required. In this case, as shown in Figures 2 (c) are expressed by H D ,t and H M ,t , respectively,
and (f), battery, heat storage tank and boiler op- among the solar radiation input into the acceptance
erations change. Accordingly, the relation between surface, Ps ,t will be calculated by Equation (1).
the magnitude of the difference of the predicted Direct solar insolations and sky solar radiation
solar power and the actual solar power, and the are used for power generation in a flat solar cell.
fuel consumption of the system is investigated. Global-solar-radiation intensity, direct solar ra-
By considering this result, the influence of the diation intensity, and horizontal sky solar radiation
NWI error on the system operation plan can be intensity at time t (t =0.2, , 23) are expressed
identified. with I H ,t , I D ,t and I M ,t , respectively. I H ,t and
I D ,t can be determined from the NWI. Moreover,
Analysis Method
I M ,t can be calculated using I H ,t and I D ,t . The
Power System incidence angle to the acceptance surface of
sunlight is calculated using Equation (2). Here,
1. Photovoltaics , , and show the latitude of a setting point,
In this Section, installation of the polycrystalline the solar celestial declination, and hour angle,
silicon solar module of area Ss is assumed. The respectively, while Equation (3) is a calculation
average production of electricity Ps ,t of the solar formula for the sky solar radiation component
module from sample time t to t + 1 on a repre- H D ,t .
325
Ps ,t = Ss s (H D ,t + H M ,t ) 3. Heat Balance
R (1) Equation (7) is a heat balance equation. H fc,t ,
1 (Tc,t To ) T
100 H bl ,t and H st ,t on the left-hand-side in the equa-

tion are the heat power of a fuel cell, a boiler, and
sin = cos sin sin cos cos a heat storage tank, respectively. H need ,t , H sts ,t
(2) and H loss ,t on the right-hand side of the equation
are heat demand, the amount of heat storage, and
H D ,t = I D ,t cos (3) the heat loss, respectively. Heat storage loss is
included in the heat loss H loss ,t on the right-hand-
Equation (4) calculates the incidence sky solar side of the equation.
radiation component H M ,t of the solar cell. The
first term on the right-hand side of Equation (4) H fc,t + H bl ,t + H st ,t = H need ,t + H sts ,t + H loss ,t
is the air solar radiation component; the second (7)
term is the reflective solar radiation component;
is the angle of gradient of the acceptance sur- Optimal Analysis Using GA
face by Equation (5); and is the reflection
factor of the ground. 1. Objective Function
If Pfc,t in Equation (6) and H bl ,t in Equation (7)
1 + cos 1 cos are determined, the heating value of LPG Q fuel ,t
H M ,t = I M ,t + I H ,t
2 2 consumed by a compound microgrid is calculable.
(4) Here, the amount of fuel with the output power
of Pfc,t and H bl ,t is decided by the PEFC power
cot = cos cot + sin cosec tan
(5) generation efficiency and the thermal efficiency
of the boiler. Equation (8) defines the objective
2. Power Balance function in this study. The objective function
Equation (6) is a power balance equation. Pfc,t , minimizes the system fuel consumption Qsystem ,day
Ppv,t and Pbt ,t on the left-hand-side in the equation on one day. The fuel consumption Q fuel ,t of the
are the PEFC power, photovoltaic power, and system from sample time t to t + 1 is the sum
battery power, respectively. Pneed ,t , Pbtc,t , Ploss ,t of the fuel consumption Q fc,t of a fuel cell, and
on the right-hand side in the equation represent the fuel consumption Qbl ,t of a boiler.
power demand, the amount of battery charge, and
23 23
loss of power, respectively. Charge-and-discharge Qsystem ,day = Q fuel ,t = (Q fc,t + Qbl ,t ) (8)
loss of a battery is included in the power loss t =0 t =0
Ploss ,t .
2. Optimal Operation Planning Algorithm
Pfc,t + Ppv,t + Pbt ,t = Pneed ,t + Pbtc,t + Ploss ,t In this study, the optimal operation plan of the
(6) proposal compound microgrid is analyzed using
326
Figure 4. Optimal operation algorithm

a GA. Figure 4 shows the operation optimiza-
tion algorithm developed in this Section, and the
analysis flow is explained below.
1. The energy demand pattern data, equipment

specifications, GA parameters, numerical
weather data, efficiencies, initial conditions
and system loss are used as input into a
computer (system controller) in Calculation
(A) in Figure 4.
2. In Calculation (B), many initial generation
chromosome models are generated at ran-
dom. One individual of the chromosome
model expresses PEFC operation and power.
The PEFC operation is represented with a 1
bit binary number and the PEFC power is
represented by a 14 bit binary number.
3. In Calculation (F), the PEFC power is
determined by decoding the chromosome
model. Furthermore, in Calculation (G), the
production of electricity of photovoltaics is
calculated using NWI.
4. In Calculations (H) through (K), battery,
heat storage tank, and boiler operations are
planned based on the power balance and
heat balance equations.
5. The fuel consumption is calculable from the
amount of PEFC and boiler power. In
Calculation (L), these values are totaled, and
the fuel consumption of the system in the
sampling time t is determined.
6. Calculations (E) through (M) are repeated
from sampling time 0 to 23 for one chromo-
8. The chromosome models with low adaptive
some model. In Calculation (N), the adaptive
value are selected, and they are exchanged
value (namely, the objective function shown
for the new randomly generated model.
in Equation (8)) of the chromosome model
Moreover, the genetic manipulation of
is obtained from this result.
crossover and mutation is added based on
7. The adaptive value of all the chromosome
the probability given in Calculation (A)
models is decided by repeating Calculations
concerning the chromosome models with
(D) through (O). The ranking of the chro-
high adaptive value (Calculation (Q)).
mosome models is decided according to
9. Calculations (D) through (Q) (repeated
the magnitude of the adaptive value of each
calculation of Calculations (C) to (R)) are
chromosome (Calculation (P)).
327
repeated for a defined number of generations. 3. Battery, Converter and Inverter

In the last generations chromosome group, The self-discharge of a battery is set to 10% per
the solution with the highest adaptive value hour. The converter and inverter efficiencies are
is chosen to be the optimal system operation both set to 95%.
plan (Calculation (S)).
4. Heat Storage Tank and Boiler
Case Analysis Heat dissipation loss of a heat storage tank is set to
5% per hour, and the boiler efficiency is set to 90%.
Equipment Specifications
GA Parameters
The equipment specifications for the case analy-
sis of the PEFC and photovoltaics compound The GA parameters in the proposed algorithm are
microgrid are shown in Table 1. The microgrid shown in Table 2. These values were chosen by
assumes that the equipment is installed in Sapporo, repeating trial and error so that the convergence
Japan (latitude 43.062-degree north and longitude solution was as stable as possible. Since the con-
141.354-degree east, a cold and snowy area). vergence solution (analysis result) has dispersion
for every analysis, the optimal solution is obtained
1. PEFC with a Reformer by repeating the same analysis.
The maximum PEFC power with a reformer is
3 kW, and this performance is shown Figure 3. Energy Demand Pattern
2. Photovoltaics Power and heat are supplied to three individual

The maximum efficiency and photovoltaic houses in Sapporo, Japan using the proposed
temperature coefficients are 16.4% and 0.4%/K, microgrid. Figure 5 shows the power and heat
respectively. These values are general facility val- demand on a representative day every month
ues used in Japan. The solar panel is installed in (Narita, 1996). There is no cooling load and heating
the roof, with a slope of 30-degrees facing south. is included in the heat load. Therefore, the power
Moreover, the solar cell area is set to 60.0 m2. load pattern on a representative day of every month
The area of the general solar cell installed into does not vary significantly throughout the year.
individual houses in Japan is usually 25 m2 to 40 On the other hand, the magnitude of demanded
m2 (for a solar cell with a 3 kW to 5 kW capacity). heat varies greatly between the summer season
and winter season.
Error of the NWI
Various error characteristics of the NWI can be

considered. However, the investigated case vari-
ous NWI errors were not found. Accordingly, the
Table 2. GA parameters
328
Figure 5. Energy demand model. Load patterns for three individual houses on representative days in
Sapporo, Japan.
error pattern of the following two types is installed of 20% and 40% at random are added to the
in this study. Figure 6 shows the error pattern of two error types. These fluctuation errors simulate
the two types used to analyze the proposed algo- the instability of the solar insolation data.
rithm (Figure 4). As shown in Figure 6 (a), a
linear- -error and a quadratic error are installed Results and Discussion
as error patterns. Target day operation plans are
determined by the NWI at 0:00 on the target day. Operation Planning
In this Section, the error that is proportional
(errort = const1 t ) to time is defined as the Figure 7 shows the results of the system operation
linear error. On the other hand, the error that fol- plan optimization analysis on representative Feb-
lows (errort = const 2 t 2 ) a secondary curve ruary days (winter). Figures 7 (a) and (b) are the
relative to time is defined as the quadratic error. optimal operation plans for a power system and a
Here, the integrated values of the two error types heat system, respectively. Moreover, Figure 7 (c)
are set equal to each other. Therefore, const1 and shows the fuel consumption plan in this case. The
const2 were decided so that Area A and Area B fuel consumption is the sum total of each value
(shown in Figure 6 (a)) might become equal (in of a PEFC with a reformer and a boiler. Figure 8
Figure 6 (a), Area A=Area B=1.0). The common shows the operation results of the system at the
characteristic of these error patterns is the increase time of the linear error and quadratic error on
of the NWI error as time increases. Moreover, as the NWI. Similarly, Figure 9 shows the results of
shown in Figures 6 (b) and (c), fluctuation errors the system operating plan optimization analysis
329
Figure 6. Error function and error function with random error in the numerical weather information
330
Figure 7. Analysis results of the proposed microgrid operation plan in February
Figure 8. Operation planning in the case of numerical weather information with two types of error; a
power system in February.)
331
Figure 9. Analysis results of the operation planning of the proposed microgrid in August
on representative August days (summer season). microgrid is optimized based on the objective
Figure 10 shows the operation result with the two function in Equation (8), power should be gener-
error types on the NWI. ally optimized in the summer and heat should be
The battery operation plans shown in Figure generally optimized in the winter.
7 (a) and Figure 9 (a) differ greatly for each month.
Accordingly, the amount of the maximum electric- Influence of the Numerical
ity storage in August is clearly large compared Weather Information Error
with that in February. This is because of the dif-
ference in the photovoltaic power generation in The relation between the NWI error and the power
February and August. Moreover, when Figure 7 system operation results is investigated (Figure
(b) is compared with Figure 9 (b), the ratios of 4- and Figure 10). If an error is included in the
the PEFC exhaust heat to heat demand vary NWI, the amount of storage of electricity will
greatly for each month. The PEFC exhaust heat increase sharply for any month. From this result,
to the heat demand ratio is very low in February. the time shift of power is conjectured to perform
As a result, heat supply on February representative an important role for optimizing system operation
days is mainly boiler heat. The summer season with NWI error. Accordingly, because the opera-
has little system fuel consumption based on the tion plan is strongly influenced by battery capacity
difference in the heat power of a boiler (Figure 7 setup, it is thought that the fuel consumption of
(c) and 9 (c)). Therefore, if the proposed compound the system changes greatly.
332
Figure 10. Operation planning in the case of numerical weather information with two error types; power
system in August
When installing the linear error into the NWI, the fuel cell microgrid with unstable photovoltaics
large battery capacity is required compared with achieves good operation. Even if it includes error
the quadratic error. Therefore, the system operation in the NWI, the system maintains good operation
method changes with the error characteristics of and hardly suffers from the error.
the NWI. To minimize the battery capacity, the
NWI quadratic error is desirable. Conclusions
Fuel Consumption In this Section, the photovoltaic electricity pro-

duction was predicted using numerical weather
Figure 11 (a) shows the fuel consumption plan information (NWI), and a system operation
in the case of the optimal system operation optimization algorithm based on NWI was
plan. Moreover, Figures 11 (b) and (c) show the proposed. The proposed algorithm uses a GA
operation results of the fuel consumption with (genetic algorithm), and optimizes the system
NWI error. The winter season (February and operation plan. However, since error exists
December) with the large heat power of a boiler between NWI and meteorological data in real
requires significant fuel consumption. Moreover, time, the operation of an actual system differs
when Figures 11 (b) and (c) are compared with from the optimal operation plan defined before-
the fuel consumption pattern for every month, hand. Accordingly, in this Section, the relation
shown in Figure 11 (a), there is a clear difference. between the error characteristic of the NWI and
Accordingly, the total fuel consumption on the fuel consumption of the system were clarified.
representative day was calculated about every Moreover, the following was concluded. First,
month (Figure 12). As shown in Figure 12, the when the proposal compound microgrid is in-
results of the fuel consumption plan in the optimal stalled in a cold region and optimized, power
system operation plan and the fuel consumption is mainly optimized in the summer and heat is
when operating the system with NWI error were primarily optimized in the winter. Second, for
small in value. From this result, it is surmised that system operation with NWI error, the power
installing operation optimization using the NWI in time shift has an important role. Accordingly,
333
Figure 11. Analysis results of the fuel consumption
the operation plan changes greatly with the operation optimization method based on the
magnitude of the battery capacity. As a result NWI into the fuel cell microgrid with unstable
system fuel consumption varies greatly from photovoltaics. Even if the error shown in this
month to month. Lastly, high-performance Section is included in the NWI, the influence
operation can be achieved by installing the on the system fuel consumption is small.
334
Figure 12. Analysis results of the fuel consumption on a representative day
ENERGY SUPPLY that uses renewable energy. Several studies have

CHARACTERISTICS OF A focused on combining a solar cell and a diesel
COMBINED SOLAR CELL AND power plant (Muselli, Notton, & Louche, 1999;
DIESEL ENGINE SYSTEM WITH Ashari & Nayar, 1999; Yamamoto et al., 2004;
A PREDICTION ALGORITHM FOR Ismail et al., 2002). However, in these studies,
SOLAR POWER GENERATION reductions in energy cost by predicting electric-
ity production from the solar cell and power load
Introduction prediction were not investigated with respect to
the heat characteristics of the proposed systems.
Recently, the neural network (NN) has been The estimated power and generation capacities
proposed as a suitable statistical approach for of solar cells have been studied (Mondol et al.,
classification and prediction problems (Anstett & 2007; Engin et al., 2009). The overall efficiency
Kreider, 1993; Kreider & Wang, (1992). A NN can performance of solar cell systems about a variety of
be easily used in prediction problems due to its irradiation conditions was proposed by Mondol et
simplicity and adaptive pattern recognition ability. al. (2007), and the accuracy of an artificial NN for
The prediction of local weather using NN is low in estimating real-time maximum power generation
cost compared to large-scale prediction of weather from solar cells is studied by Syafaruddin et al.(8).
using a mainframe computer. The objectives of A NN prediction algorithm (PAS) was developed
this study are to develop an algorithm based on by Obara (2008b). The relationship between pre-
a NN to predict the electricity production from a diction errors of the PAS and the energy cost was
solar cell and to optimize the operation plan of a clarified, and the fuel consumption of an engine
combined solar cell and diesel engine generator. A generator was proposed. However, although the
layered NN is developed to learn and teach based output power from a solar cell was predicted us-
on weather data, which includes the amount of ing a NN in Ref. (9), the results were calculated
solar radiation and the outside air temperature. and predicted on the order of weeks and days for
This system allows for the construction of a power the first weeks in February and August. Power
supply system with low environmental impact was only supplied to the demand side, and heat
335
from the proposed system was not considered. In operation of the engine generator is based on the
the present chapter, when the engine generator charge or discharge of the battery, with maximum
operates, exhaust heat from the engine is used engine efficiency at maximum output power. Two
to supply the demand. When the exhaust heat is operating methods are used in the two systems.
less than the demand, a back-up boiler is used In Method 1, we use actual electricity production
to supply the demand. Power and heat from the calculations from the solar cell, while in Method
proposed system are used to supply the demand. 2, NN electricity production prediction results are
In addition, calculations and predicted results used. This chapter illustrates that engine generator
for solar cell electricity production as average operation time is shortened by introducing a NN
values for each month and the energy supply prediction algorithm. The analysis error of the
characteristics of a solar cell and diesel engine gen- operation prediction is also considered. The heat
erator are illustrated in this chapter. Two systems output characteristics of the diesel engine and the
are proposed in this work. The operation of the back-up boiler are investigated.
diesel engine generator is based on the fluctuation
of the load in System 1, and a battery is not used. Procedure
Therefore, because the engine is operated over a
large area from a low to a high load, the average System Model
engine operation efficiency is low. On the other
hand, in System 2 a battery is used to supply the A block diagram of the combined solar cell and
demand when solar power is less than the demand, diesel engine system is shown in Figure 13. As
and the diesel engine generator operates at 25% shown in the figure, the proposed system consists
or less of the battery residual quantity to work in of a solar cell, a diesel engine generator, a battery,
safety Mode in the proposed system. Furthermore, a heat storage tank, a back-up boiler and a system
Figure 13. System scheme
336
controller. The power output from the solar cell mode, the engine generator operates and charges
can be supplied to the power demand through a the battery. The heat from the engine and boiler
DC-AC converter and inverter, which also charges is used to supply the heat demand.
the battery. The power output from the inverter Figure 14 shows the output characteristics of
is supplied to a power grid or sold off to utilities a test diesel engine generator; the maximum
through an interconnection device. Table 3 shows power output generated from the diesel engine
the specifications of the solar cell, battery, engine generator is 3 kW (Obara, 2007c). The heat exhaust
and generator (SANYO Nickel-Metal Hydride output from the engine generator includes engine-
Production Information, 2009). Two operating cooling water and exhaust gas. The heat exhaust
systems are used in this study. In System 1, a bat- is stored in a heat storage tank that supplies a
tery is not introduced into the system. When the back-up boiler. The engine generator efficiency
solar cell power is less than the power demand, is calculated using the approximate expression
the diesel engine generator operates according shown in Figure 14 (b).
to the load fluctuation, and the surplus power
from the solar cell can be sold off. In System 2, Examination Methods
the surplus power from the solar cell is used to
charge a battery. The engine generator operates at Two methods were used to examine the two oper-
a fixed load (3 kW output power) for maximum ating systems. In Method 1, the system operation
efficiency; the battery supplies the load when plan depends on actual calculations of the power
the power output from the solar cell is less than output from the solar cell. On the other hand,
the demand. The battery capacity is measured in Method 2, the production of electricity from
for every sampling period. If the battery capac- the solar cell using a NN prediction algorithm
ity drops to 25% or less in the safety operation is introduced, and the system operation plan is
Table 3. System apparatus specifications
337
Figure 14. Output characteristics of the diesel engine generator at 1600 rpm
based on the NN predicted output results for the supply and baths. The operating systems were
solar cell. In this chapter, the operation plan of the introduced into three apartments with the load
engine generator is investigated using the results and heat patterns shown in Figure 15, multiplied
of Method 1 and Method 2. by three.
Energy Demand Patterns Analysis Method
The power and heat demand patterns of a typical Amount of SlopeFace Solar Radiation and
household in Sapporo, Japan, are shown in Figure Electricity Production of the Solar Cell
15 (Obara, 2007c, 2007d). In this figure, the power Direct solar radiation intensity (HD) and sky so-
demand pattern does not change significantly each lar radiation intensity (HS) are used to calculate
month; this is because there is no cooling load in the amount of slope-face solar radiation and the
the summer in Sapporo. The electricity demand electricity production from the solar cell (Obara,
includes household appliances and electric light- 2008b, 2007c, 2007d; SANYO Nickel-Metal
ing. Heat demand comes from heating, hot water Hydride Production Information, 2009; Japan
Figure 15. Power load and heat load of one household in Sapporo in Japan
338
Solar Energy Society, 1985; NEDO Technical office in Japan and AMEDAS (1990 to 2003,
Information Database, 2013). The formulas for NEDO Technical information database, (2013)).
direct solar radiation and the sky solar radiation Equations (9) to (12) are used to calculate the
are calculated using the following equations: slope-face solar radiation; the calculation results
are shown in Figure 16. In this figure, the average
H D = I D cos (9) values of slope-face solar radiation are calculated
for December, March, June and April.
The following equation is used to calculate the
sin = cos sin sin cos cos
average electricity production PS from the solar
(10)
module (Obara, 2008b).
H s = 0.5 I S (1 + cos ) + 0.5 I H (1 cos )
Ps = SS S (H D + H S )
(11) (13)
{
1 (TC TO ) (RT / 100) }
cos = cos cot + sin cos ec tan
(12)
where PS is the output power from the solar cell,
where ID is the direct solar radiation intensity, IH Tc is the temperature of the solar cell, Ss is the
is the global solar radiation intensity, IS is the area of the solar cell (72 m2), s is the generation
horizontal sky solar radiation, is the reflection efficiency (14%), RT is the temperature coefficient
factor, is an incident angle to the acceptance (0.4%/K) and To is the reference temperature (298
surface of the sunlight, is the latitude of the K). Equation (13) is used to calculate the solar
setting point, is the solar celestial declination, cell electricity production, the calculation results
is the hour angle and is the angle of the gra- are shown in Figure 17. As shown in this figure,
the average electricity production values from the
dient of the acceptance surface. HD and HS are
solar cell are calculated for December, March,
obtained from the standard weather, the solar
June and September.
radiation data base in the meteorology government
Figure 16. Slope-face solar radiation
339
Figure 17. Solar cell electricity production
Proposed Neural Network Algorithm on the training (learning) process. In the learning
process, the connection weights between layers
The NN is suitable to predict the power output are determined following the total minimum error.
from the solar cell because of its speed, simplic- First, all weights are chosen randomly, and the past
ity and high prediction performance (Kil, R. M. weather pattern of a slope-face solar radiation and
and Song, Y., (1997)). The prediction algorithm outside air temperature are used as input signals
of the electricity production of the solar cell uses to the NN. The electricity production teaching
a layered NN, as shown in the block diagram in data from the solar cell are input into the output
Figure 18. The structure of the layered NN is layer. During the learning process, the learning
shown in Figure 19; it consists of three layers: the rate is specified as 0.1, and the sigmoid function
input layer, the hidden layer and the output layer. is utilized for the input-output characteristics of
The successful implementation of a NN depends the neurons. For each neuron, the teaching data
Figure 18. Prediction algorithm of the solar cell electricity production
340
Figure 19. The layered neural network of the prediction algorithm
is the calculation of output power from the solar patterns, amount of slope face solar radiation and
cell using Equation (13); the output of neuron j outside temperature are given to the NN, and the
in the n layer is given as: learning data is the actual output power from the
solar cell. The mean squared errors (MSE) equa-
1 tion is described as:
O jn = (14)
I jn
1 +e Ln
MSE N = 0.5 (t j O jN )2 (16)

j =1
The term I in Equation (14) is the input of
n
j
neuron j in layer n. It is calculated using the out- where tj is the output target actual power, and O jN
put Okn1 and weight w j , k
n , n 1
of neuron k layer n-1, is the estimated power value. The NN modifies
the weights so that the MSE approaches 0.0055%.
as follows: Weight Modification Equation (17) is used to
n , n 1
Ln 1 calculate the corrected weighted w j , k by using
I jn = w j , k
n , n 1
Okn 1 (15) n , n 1
k =1 the weight before modification w j , k and the
n , n 1
amount of modification w j , k . The amount of
where j =1,...., Ln, and k =1,......., Ln-1
modification in Equation (18) is expressed in
Learning Process Equation (19). The partial differential of Equation
(18) is calculated using Equations (19) and (20)
First, all weights in the NN is determined randomly. (Haykin, S., (1998))
When the random initial values are input into the
n , n 1 n , n 1 n , n 1
proposed NN, the outputs agree with the correct w j , k = w new w old = w j , k w j,k
answer with high precision. The past weather (17)
341
n , n 1
MSE N MSE N Analysis Flow of the Learning Process
w j , k = n , n 1
= O jn 1
w j,k I jn
Figure 20 shows the proposed NN algorithm
(18) n , n 1
learning process analysis flow. All weights w j , k
when n = N
are determined randomly, and the learning rate
MSE N in Equation (18) is given to the program. The
= (t j I jN ) O jN (1 O jN ) (19) input data I jn and teaching data tj are input into
I jn
the program. The input and output data of each
neuron are calculated. Equation (19) is calculated
when n < N using O jn and tj, as well as Equation (20). These
n , n 1
Ln MSE results are used in Equation (18), and w j , k is
MSE N n +1, n
=
N
O n (1 O n )
L =1 I n +1
w L, j
j j calculated. This value is given to Equation (17)
I jn
j and the weight of each neuron is updated. The
(20)
Figure 20. The NN algorithm learning process calculation flow
342
analysis error is calculated using Equation (16). average power generation prediction error values
When the analysis error is smaller than the previ- from the solar cell; this figure was obtained by
ously defined value, the training process stops. subtracting Figure 22 from Figure 17. In Figure
On the other hand, if it is larger than the threshold 23, the average error percentages are 25%, 29%,
value, the process is returns and calculates repeat- 19% and 26% for December, March, June and
edly. September, respectively. These values are differ-
ent because of the differences in slope-face solar
Relation between the Input Data and radiation and outside air temperature for each
Analysis Error month. Figure 25 (a) is obtained by subtracting
the power demand of three houses from the solar
In this section, the relation between input data cell electricity production (multiplying Figure 17
and analysis error is illustrated. Equation (16) is by 72 m2 to transfer values from kW/m2 to kW).
used to calculate the analysis error, as shown in Furthermore, Figure 25 (b) is obtained by subtract-
Figure 21. In this figure, the relation between the ing the power demand from the NN predictive
input data and analysis error is graphed for three values of electricity output from the solar cell.
cases: in case 1, the input includes all outside
temperature data and solar radiation data that System 1 Results
are the average daily values; in case 2, 10% of
random fluctuation is given to solar radiation; and The surplus power of the solar cell is sold as
in case 3, 20% random fluctuation is given to shown in Figure 25. When the electricity output
solar radiation. As shown in Figure 21, the varia- from the solar cell is insufficient compared with
tion of solar radiation influences the analysis. The the power demand, the engine generator operates
biggest influence occurs in case3. and supplies the demand, as shown in Figures 26
and 27. The peak values of engine heat exhaust
Results and Discussion are shown in Table 4. As shown in this table, the
peak values of heat exhaust are reduced by 3.3%,
The predicted values for the electricity production 7.5%, 1.1% and 2.7% by introducing the NN algo-
from the solar sell using NN prediction algorithm rithm for each month. In addition, the peak value
are shown in Figure 22. Figure 23 presents the of engine generator efficiency is 28.1 for the two
Figure 21. Relation between input data and analysis error in March
343
Figure 22. Predictive values of the solar cell

methods. The engine generator operates with low
electricity
efficiency because it operates according to load
fluctuation. When the engine heat exhaust is less
than the demand, the back-up boiler supplies the
demand side, as shown in Figure 28. In this figure,
the peak heat values from the back-up boiler in
case of Method 1 are 156 and 26 MJ at 6:00 a.m.
for September and June, respectively, and also 145
and 54 MJ at 7:00 a.m. for March and September,
respectively. Moreover, in Method 2, the peak heat
values from the back-up boiler are 15953, 26 and
Figure 23. Error in power generation prediction
Figure 24. Power results generated by subtracting the power demand from the solar cell output power
344
Figure 25. Electricity sales to utilities in System 1
Figure 26. Engine generator heat exhaust
Figure 27. Engine generator efficiency
345
Table 4. Peak values of exhaust heat from the engine generator in MJ
Figure 28. Heat from the back-up boiler in System 1
57 MJ for each month at 6:00 in the morning. In the demand side. When comparing Figure 30 (a)
System 1, the electricity is sold to the utilities, so with Figure 30 (b), the operating period of the
the overall system efficiency is good. engine generator is shortened by introducing the
NN prediction algorithm. The engine operating
System 2 Results time is reduced by 12.5% in December and 16.7%
for March and September. The operation plan of
A battery is used to supply the demand side when the back-up boiler is shown in Figure 31. In this
the output power from the solar cell is lower than figure, the peak values of heat from the back-up
the demand, as shown in Figure 29. The surplus boiler are 8.6, 8.5, 8.3, 8.6 MJ for each month at
power from the solar cell is used to charge the 18:00 in Method 1. In addition, for Method 2, the
battery. The diesel engine generator operates ac- peak values are 8.6, 8.3 and 8.6 MJ for December,
cording to the charge or discharge of the battery, June and September at 18:00, respectively, and
as shown in Figure 30. The engine generator 8.2 MJ for March at 17:00. The average total en-
operates an average of 8, 6, 4, and 6 hours in gine heat is9, 39, 26 and 38 MJ; furthermore, the
Method 1 and 7, 5, 4, and 5 hours in Method 2 back-up boiler provides 77, 89, 97 and 90 MJ in
for each month, respectively. During these engine Method 1 for each month. Moreover, for Method
generator operating hours, the heat is supplied to 2, the average values of total engine heat is 39,
346
Figure 29. Battery operation plan
Figure 30. Analysis results of the engine generator operation plan
Figure 31. Heat from the back-up boiler in System 2
347
32, 26 and 32 MJ, respectively, and the average for March and September. The diesel engine heat
heat from the back-up boiler is 87, 87, 96 and 95 characteristics are described, and a back-up boiler
MJ for each month. operation plan is developed.
Conclusions
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350
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
H : Heat [W]
I D : Direct solar radiation intensity [W/m2]
I H : Global-solar-radiation intensity [W/m2 ]
I M : Horizontal sky solar radiation intensity [W/m2]
H D : Intensity of direct solar [W/m2]
H M : Intensity of sky solar radiation [W/m2]
P : Power [W]
Q : Fuel consumption [W]
RT : Temperature coefficient [%/K]
Ss : Area of the solar cell [m2]
T : Temperature [K]
Tc : Temperature of the solar cell [K]
To : Reference temperature [K]
t : Sample time
Greek Symbols
: Angle of the acceptance surface gradient

: The solar celestial declination
: The latitude of a setting point
s : Photovoltaics efficiency at To [%]
: Incident angle to the sunlight acceptance surface
: Ground reflection factor
: Hour angle
Subscripts
bl : Boiler
bt : Battery
btc : Battery discharge
fc : PEFC with reformer
loss : Energy loss
need : Energy demand
pv : Photovoltaics
s : Solar module
st : Heat storage
sts : Heat storage output
351
352
Chapter 11
SOFC-PEFC Combined Microgrid
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Power Generation Efficiency of Photovoltaics and a SOFC-PEFC
Combined Microgrid with Time Shift Utilization of the SOFC Exhaust Heat and Power Generation
Efficiency of an SOFC-PEFC Combined System with Time Shift Utilization of SOFC Exhaust Heat.
The 1st section proposes the combined system of a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a proton-exchange
membrane fuel cell (PEFC). The proposed system consists of a SOFC-PEFC combined system and a
photovoltaic system (PV) as the energy supplied to a microgrid. The 2nd section studies a microgrid by
introducing a combined SOFC and PEFC. This study investigates the operation of a SOFC-PEFC combined
system, with time shift operation of reformed gas, into a microgrid with 30 houses in Sapporo, Japan.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION The operation plan of the system has three cases:
without solar power, with 50% and with 100%
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. In this of solar output power. Moreover, three types of
section, the combined system of a solid-oxide fuel system operation of using the SOFC independent
cell (SOFC) and a proton-exchange membrane fuel operation, PEFC independent operation and
cell (PEFC) is developed. The proposed system SOFC-PEFC combined system are used to supply
consists of a SOFC-PEFC combined system and the demand side. A comparative study between the
a photovoltaic system (PV) as the energy supply types of system operation is presented. The power
to a microgrid. The exhaust heat of the SOFC is generation efficiency is investigated for different
used for the steam reforming of the bio-ethanol load patterns: average load pattern, compressed
gas with time shift utilization of the exhaust heat load pattern and extended load pattern. This study
of the SOFC in optional time. The SOFC-PEFC reported that the power generation efficiencies of
combined system with the PV was introduced in the proposedsystem in consideration of these load
a microgrid of 30 residences in Sapporo, Japan. patterns are 27% to 48%.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch011
The summary of the 2nd section is as follows. fuels and the possibility of building hybrid systems
A microgrid, with little environmental impact, (Naim & Maria, 2004; Muhsin & Zehra, 2009;
is developed by introducing a combined SOFC Erdmann, 2003). As a fuel cell for residences,
(solid oxide fuel cell) and PEFC (proton exchange proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEFC) and
membrane fuel cell) system. Although the SOFC SOFC were developed. Though higher tempera-
requires a higher operation temperature compared tures are required with SOFC in comparison with
to the PEFC, the power generation efficiency of PEFC, the power generation efficiency is high
the SOFC is higher. However, if high temperature and the uses for exhaust heat are wide. In order to
exhaust heat may be used effectively, a system with utilize the hot exhaust heat of SOFC effectively,
higher total power generation efficiency can be the SOFC and gas turbine (GT) compound system
built. Therefore, this study investigates the opera- was developed (Lim, Song, Shin, Yang, Jung,
tion of a SOFC-PEFC combined system, with time Vinke, & Yang, 2008; Chan, Ho, & Tian, 2003;
shift operation of reformed gas, into a microgrid Akkaya, Sahin, & Erdem, 2008; Sadegh & Ali,
with 30 houses in Sapporo, Japan. The SOFC is 2009; Haseli, Dincer, & Naterer, 2008). Although
designed to correspond to base load operation, and high thermal efficiency is achieved in the SOFC-
the exhaust heat of the SOFC is used for produc- GT compound system, maintenance of the high
tion of reformed gas. This reformed gas is used thermal efficiency is difficult. Moreover, because
for the production of electricity for the PEFC, the partial load quality of GT is bad, it is difficult
corresponding to fluctuation load of the next day. to maintain the power generation efficiency of the
Accordingly, the reformed gas is used with a time whole system. In this system, it is necessary to
shift operation. In this study, the relation between perform synchronous operation the exhaust heat
operation method, power generation efficiency, output from the SOFC and the driving of GT.
and amount of heat storage of the SOFC-PEFC Consideration of the load characteristic of the
combined system to the difference in power load demand side is indispensable to investigate the
pattern was investigated. The average power gen- power generation efficiency. Moreover, an opera-
eration efficiency of the system can be maintained tion plan with high power generation efficiency
at nearly 48% on a representative day in February by a high load factor is required.
(winter season) and August (summer season). In this Section, the exhaust heat of SOFC
is used for the steam reforming of bio-ethanol
fuel. The reformed gas is stored in a cylinder;
POWER GENERATION EFFICIENCY this reformed gas is supplied to the PEFC when
OF PHOTOVOLTAICS AND A SOFC- needed. In other words, time shift utilization of
PEFC COMBINED MICROGRID the exhaust heat of the SOFC is installed. When
WITH TIME SHIFT UTILIZATION using this time shift utilization of the exhaust heat
OF THE SOFC EXHAUST HEAT of the SOFC, the operation of the system can be
planned so that a load peak is cut. In addition, in
Introduction this study, the SOFC-PEFC and PV combined
system are proposed to supply power and heat to
The solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is recognized 30 residences in Sapporo, Japan. The SOFC of
as the most efficient fuel cell among various fuel the proposal system is made to correspond to a
cells. The SOFC is considered an energy conver- base load, and the PEFC is made to correspond
sion device due to its several potential benefits, to fluctuating load. The exhaust heat of the SOFC
including low pollutant emissions, high-energy ef- supplies the steam reformer and makes reformed
ficiency, the possibility of using different kinds of
353
gas. This reformed gas is stored and used for the formed gas to the PEFC. Such system management
operation of the PEFC the following day. is planned by the system controller. The SOFC-
In this study, the optimized operation of a mi- PEFC combined system is examined by using the
crogrid with the SOFC-PEFC and PV combined different electrical load patterns of the microgrid.
system at different load patterns is clarified. A
comparative study is performed between SOFC- SOFC and PEFC Combined System
independent operation, PEFC-independent opera-
tion and SOFC-PEFC combined system operation. A. Power Grid
The optimization analysis of the operation plan The block diagram of the SOFC-PEFC combined
considers the operation of a power system and a system used in the proposal system is shown in
heat system. Moreover, the power generation ef- Figure 1(b). The SOFC that is introduced into the
ficiency and the operation planning of the boiler system has an internal reformer. As shown in this
are investigated. figure, the exhaust heat of SOFC heats the LNG,
bio-ethanol gas and the air, which are supplied
System Configuration to the SOFC cathode using the heat exchanger
(HEX). Supplying the exhaust heat of the SOFC
System Scheme to the steam reformer (R/M) with a shift unit (S/U)
produces a reformed gas with a high hydrogen
The proposed microgrid with a SOFC-PEFC and density (Yasuda, 2005; Nakamura & Sei, 2002;
PV combined system is shown in Figure 1. A Oda, 1999). Moisture is present in the reformed
schematic figure of the proposed system is shown gas, so a condenser unit (C/U) for air cooling is
in Figure 1(a). It consists of the SOFC-PEFC used. A CO oxidation device (C/O) is used to
combined system, PV system, power conditioning remove CO from the reformed gas. After decreas-
system, heat supply system and system controller. ing the CO content, the reforming gas is stored in
The details of each system are shown in Figures the cylinder by a compressor (C/P). The electric
1(b) to (e). Each piece of equipment of the pro- power of the SOFC and PEFC is supplied to the
posal system is operated by the system controller DC-DC and the DC-AC converter and inverter,
(Yoshiba, Izaki, & Watanabe, 2004). The electric then to the power grid (Obara, 2010; Obara &
power and heat of the SOFC-PEFC combined Abeer, 2009; Japan Solar Energy Society, 1985).
system and PV system are used to supply power
and heat to a grid of 30 residences in Sapporo in B. Heat Grid
Japan. The electricity production for every sample The exhaust heat of the SOFC with an internal
time for each day is predicted by using NWI (the reformer is used for heating the LNG, bio-ethanol
numerical weather information) (Japan meteoro- gas and the air supplied to the SOFC cathode. The
logical business support center, 2009; Data of remaining exhaust heat is supplied to the steam
Japan Meteorological Agency, 2009) obtained by reformer (R/M). The exhaust heat of the reforming
the system controller, as shown in Figure 1(a). unit, condenser unit (C/U) and PEFC is stored in
The exhaust heat outputted from the SOFC is hot, the heat storage tank. The heat exchanger is in-
at 750 C - 900 C . This high temperature exhaust stalled in the heat storage tank. Heat is exchanged
heat is used for the steam reforming of bioethanol between the tap water and the heat medium in the
and the heating of LNG (liquid natural gas) and heat storage tank (Obara, 2010; Obara & Abeer,
air supplied to the SOFC. The reformed gas is 2009; Japan Solar Energy Society, 1985). A boiler
stored in a cylinder. The power load peak of the is operated when there is little heat storage com-
following day is cut by supplying the stored re- pared with the heat demand.
354
Figure 1. Proposal microgrid with photovoltaics and SOFC-PEFC combined power system
355
Photovoltaic (PV) System H S ,t = 0.5 I S ,t (1 + cos )

(4)
+0.5 I H ,t (1 cos )
The block diagram of the PV system is shown in
Figure 1(e). As shown in the figure, the proposed
cos = cos cot + sin cos ec tan
PV system consists of a solar cell, DC-DC con-
(5)
verter and DC-AC converter. The power output
from the solar cell can be supplied to the power
where is the reflection factor, is the incident
demand through an inverter. The type of solar cell
angle to the acceptance surface of the sunlight,
used is a polycrystalline silicon solar module. The
is the latitude of the setting point, is the
following equations are used to calculate the
solar celestial declination, is the hour angle,
electricity production Ps ,t from the solar module
and is the angle of the gradient of the acceptance
(NEDO Technical information database, 2010; surface.
Okawa, Shikazono, & Kasagi, 2007; Result report
symposium, 2007). Operation of the SOFC-
PEFC Combined System
Ps ,t = SS S (H D ,t + H S ,t )
(1)
{
1 (TC ,t TO ) (RT / 100) } Figure 2 (a) shows the power division rate of the
SOFC-PEFC combined system that is introduced
to the demand side. As shown in this figure, the
where Ps ,t is the output power from the solar cell, operation plan of the SOFC corresponds to the
H D ,t is the direct solar radiation intensity, H S ,t base load. On the other hand, the operation plan
is the sky solar radiation intensity, TC ,t is the of the PEFC is in accordance to the load fluctua-
tion. The base load is set as a larger value than
temperature of the solar cell, SS is the area of the
the minimum value of the load fluctuation, so
solar cell (72 m2), S is the generation efficiency the SOFC is operated with maximum generation
(14%), RT is the temperature coefficient (0.4%/K), efficiency. The amount of exhaust heat from the
and TO is the reference temperature (298K). SOFC-PEFC combined system depends on the
Direct solar radiation and sky solar radiation are operation plan of the SOFC, as shown in Figure
used for power generation in a flat solar cell. The 2 (b). In addition, the quantity of reformed gas
global-solar-radiation intensity ( I H ,t ), horizontal produced changes with the setting of the load of
the SOFC, as shown in Figure 2 (c). In Figure
sky solar radiation intensity ( I S ,t ) and direct
2 (d), the stored reformed gas is supplied to the
solar radiation intensity ( I D ,t ) at time t (t =0, 1, PEFC, and it is used the next day.
2, 63) can be determined from the NWI (NEDO Equations from (6) to (12) show the steam
Technical information database, 2010; Okawa, reformation of bio-ethanol gas and the hydrogen
Shikazono & Kasagi, 2007). production process, as described before. Here, (l)
and (g) show the state of the liquid and gas, re-
H D ,t = I D ,t cos (2) spectively.
H2O(l) H2O(l) 0.1924kJ/(mol K) (6)

sin = cos sin sin cos cos
(3)
C2 H5OH(l) C2 H5OH(l) 0.113kJ/(mol K)
(7)
356
Figure 2. Power division rate of the SOFC-PEFC combined system
H2O(l) H2O(g) 40.6kJ/mol (8) power generation efficiency (Mikkola, 2001;

Obara, 2007). When comparing Figs 3 (a) and 3
(b), the power generation efficiency of the SOFC
C2 H5OH(l) C2 H5OH(g) 38.6kJ/mol (9)
at a load factor of 25% or more is high in com-
parison with the PEFC. In addition, at a load
C2 H5OH + 3H2O 2CO2 + 6H2 173kJ/mol
factor less than 25%, the power generation effi-
(10)
ciency of the SOFC decreases greatly. Therefore,
a SOFC load factor of 25% or less is usually not
C2 H5OH + 3O2 2CO2 + 3H2O + 1369kJ/mol
advisable. Moreover, the reformer efficiency R
(11)
in Figure 3 (b) is defined by the following equa-
tion:
H2 + 1 / 2O2 3H2O + 287 kJ/mol (12)
Heating value of reformed gas

Partial Load Quality R =
Heating value of supply bioethanol
(13)
Figure 3 (a) shows the power generation effi-
ciency of the SOFC at different load factors Operation Plan of the Proposal System
(Result report symposium, 2007; Takeda, et al.,
2004) for the SOFC accompanied by internal Figure 4 shows the power operation method of
reforming. Figure 3 (b) is the efficiency of the the proposal system for three days ( Dayn , Dayn +1
PEFC at different load factors, where the PEFC
and Dayn +2 ). The predicted output power from
is accompanied by a steam reformer related to the
357
Figure 3. Power generation efficiency of SOFC and PEFC, and reformer efficiency
the solar cell and the power demand are shown each day. After storing this reformed gas, it is
in Figure 4 (a). In this figure, the operation plan supplied to the PEFC to use the following day.
of the SOFC and PEFC are shown. Moreover, the Figure 4 (c) shows the operation of the PEFC
base load of the SOFC is shown. Figure 4 (b) using the reformed gas produced on the previous
shows the amount of production of reformed gas day.
Figure 4. Power operation method of the proposal microgrid
358
Figure 6. Power demand pattern of the microgrid

Demand Pattern
(Sapporo in Japan, 30 houses, February repre-
sentative day)
Figures 5 (a) and (b) are the compressed model of
the width of daily power load fluctuations (com-
pressed load pattern) and the extended model of
the width of daily load fluctuations (extended load
pattern), respectively. These patterns compress and
extend fluctuations of the average load of power
demand on a representative day to 50% and 150%,
respectively. Here the load integration value (the
amount of power demand on the representative
day) of both patterns is the same as the total power
demand under an average load. As a result, this
Section investigates the electricity demand model
of the microgrid of the three patterns, as shown
in Figure 6. This figure is an example of a rep-
resentative day in February of 30 residences in
Sapporo (Narita, 1996). The electricity demand
includes appliances and electric lighting. The
thermal demand comes from heating, hot water the electric power demand pattern of the microgrid
supply and baths. In the SOFC-PEFC combined affects the operation plan of the proposal system.
system, the production quantity of reformed gas In the analysis, three load patterns, the average
depends on the operation method of the SOFC, so load pattern, the extended load pattern and the
compressed load pattern, are investigated.
Figure 5. Power demand model of the microgrid Analysis Method
The analysis procedure of the SOFC-PEFC com-

bined system is described as follows.
1. First, the predictive values of the power load

pattern (Figure 6) and the production of
electricity of the photovoltaic power (Figure
4 (a)) are obtained for every sampling time.
However, such an analysis method of power
load estimation and output prediction of
photovoltaic power should be considered
separately. On the other hand, the production
of the electricity of the photovoltaic power is
predicted using the NWI described by previ-
ous Section. The amount of solar radiation
and the outside air temperature for every
sampling time can be obtained by the NWI.
Moreover, the output of photovoltaic power
359
can be obtained by introducing the installa- tained from the heat balance. This exhaust
tion angles of the solar cell to Equations (1) heat is stored in a heat storage tank. Heat
to (5). storage losses are 0.5%/hour supposing a real
2. The boundary value (i.e., capacity of the system. The balance of heat is calculated for
SOFC) between the base load and the load every sampling time. When the amounts of
following is decided using the power demand heat storage run short of the heat demanded,
pattern obtained by (1) (Figure 2 (a)). Here, a boiler with 90% efficiency is operated.
this boundary value is decided using the 7. The fuel consumption (which is expressed
power demand pattern of a representative day with the heating value) of the SOFC is
with the highest peak of the power load. In calculated in the case of the operation of
this study, the extended power load pattern the proposal system according to (1) to (6),
of a representative day in February is used. R/M and a boiler. By the operation of the
3. The amount of power demand and the produc- proposed system based on (1) to (6), the
tion of electricity from photovoltaic power fuel consumption of the SOFC, R/M and the
generation are compared for each sampling boiler is calculated. The rate of the power
time. When there is a greater amount of supply of the SOFC and PEFC to the heat-
photovoltaic power than power demand, the ing value of the fuel supplied to the SOFC
surplus power is charged to a battery. On the and R/M is defined as the power generation
other hand, the storage power is discharged efficiency.
during the load peak in the evening.
4. The SOFC operates as shown in Figures 2 Results and Discussion
(a) to (c). On the other hand, the PEFC is
operated to respond to the fluctuating power The maximum electrical load of the microgrid
load. The reformed gas produced by the appears in February, as shown in Figure 7 (a).
exhaust heat of the SOFC on the previous Therefore, the capacity of the SOFC or PEFC
day is used for the PEFC operation. will be decided with the extended load pattern in
5. The amount of exhaust heat of the SOFC is a representative day in February. Thus, the capac-
obtained from Figure 3 (a) for every sampling ity (30 kW) is decided for the operation analysis
time. The amount of reformed gas (namely, with the independent operation of the SOFC and
the amount of hydrogen) outputted from PEFC. In the SOFC-PEFC combined system, the
the C/O in Figure 1 (b) is obtained from total capacity of the SOFC and PEFC is 30 kW.
the amount of SOFC exhaust heat using In addition, the capacities of the SOFC and PEFC
Equations (6) to (12). The reformed gas is are 25.5 kW and 4.5 kW respectively.
stored in a cylinder and is used in the opera- Figure 8 shows the load factor of the SOFC
tion of the PEFC the next day. As described and PEFC at different load patterns (average,
in (2), the boundary value between the base compressed and extended load patterns) and at
load zone and the factual load zone is decided 0% (without solar power), 50% and 100% output
using the power load pattern of a representa- solar power. The amount of photovoltaic power
tive day with the highest power load peak. generated is calculated using the NWI and Equa-
Therefore, a shortage of the storage reformed tion (1) to (5). In this analysis, the average value
gas used for the operation of the PEFC the in Sapporo in 1990 to 2003 is used as the NWI.
following day is not assumed. The production of electricity at this time is set to
6. The amount of exhaust heat from the R/M, 100%. In consideration of a cloudy sky etc., the
C/U and PEFC shown in Figure 1 (b) is ob- case of solar power at 50% and 0% (without solar
360
Figure 7. Energy demand pattern of the microgrid. Figure 8. Load factor of the SOFC and PEFF
Sapporo-city in Japan, 30 houses. without storage of electricity
361
Figure 9. Power generation efficiency of the SOFC

power) is also analyzed. In the analysis of this
Section, 30 kW photovoltaic power generation
(145 W/m2, efficiency of the power generation is
14%) is introduced. The load factor of each fuel
cell in daytime falls by this photovoltaic power
generation.
The operation plan of only the SOFC to supply
the demand side is shown in Figures 9 to 11.
Moreover, the operation plan of only the PEFC
to supply the demand side is shown in Figures 12
to 14. As shown in Figures 9 and 12, the power
generation efficiency of the SOFC independent
operation is large compared with the PEFC inde-
pendent operation. When the amount of photo-
voltaic power generated increases, the load of the
fuel cell falls. As a result, the power generation
efficiency of the fuel cell falls. The analysis results
for the fuel consumption of the SOFC and PEFC
are shown in Figures 10 and 13. When the amount
of photovoltaic power generated is large, the fuel
consumption of the fuel cell increases because
the partial-load operation with low fuel cell ef-
ficiency occurs. On the other hand, because the
amount of solar radiation fluctuates greatly, the
amount of photovoltaic power generated changes.
Therefore, as shown in Figures 10 and 9, the fuel
consumption of the fuel cell in the daytime has
sharp changes.
Figures 11 and 14 show the analysis results of
the boiler operation of the SOFC and PEFC in-
dependent systems, respectively. Because the heat
load is very large compared with the power load,
the difference between the SOFC independent
system and the PEFC independent system is small.
The operation plan of the SOFC-PEFC com-
bined system is shown in Figures 15 to 18. Figure
15 shows the analysis results of the power gen-
eration efficiency of the proposed system. When
photovoltaic power generation is not introduced
Figures 16 and 17 show the analysis results
(Figure 15 (a)), the change in the power generation
for the consumption of the bioethanol supplied to
efficiency is small. However, the load factor of
the reformer (R/M) and the natural gas supplied
the system falls when the amount of photovoltaic
to the SOFC, respectively. From the consumption
power generated increases. Therefore, the pro-
of natural gas shown in Figure 17, the power load
posed system differs in performance according
peak at 16:00 to3:00 shown in Figure 7 (a) is lev-
to the season and the weather.
362
Figure 10. Natural gas supply of the SOFC Figure 11. Boiler power supply of the SOFC
tovoltaic power generation increases, the power

generation efficiency falls. Therefore, because
eled by the operation of the SOFC. On the other the amount of exhaust heat from the SOFC in-
hand, if the amount of photovoltaic power gener- creases, the amount of bioethanol supplied to the
ated increases, the amount of daily bioethanol reformer increases. Figure 18 shows the analysis
supplied to the reformer (R/M) will increase, as results of the boiler operation. These results are
shown in Figure 16. Because the load factor of the same as the results of Figures 11 and 14.
the SOFC will fall if the power supply from pho- Because the heat load (Figure 7 (b)) used in this
363
Figure 12. Power generation efficiency of the Figure 13. Bioethanol fuel supply of the PEFC
PEFC
highest value of heat storage occurs in August

due to the smallest heat demand in this month
compared to the other two months.
analysis is large compared with the system exhaust Figure 20 shows the analysis results for the
heat (reformer (R/M), the condenser unit (C/U) fuel consumption in each system of a representa-
and the PEFC in Figure 1 (b)), the difference in tive day every month. In the SOFC, the PEFC and
the boiler operation between each system is small. the SOFC-PEFC combined system, natural gas,
Figure 19 shows the heat storage quantities in bioethanol, natural gas and bioethanol are con-
case of average load patterns of a representative sumed. Figure 20 (a) shows the results, not includ-
day in each month. As shown in this figure, the ing boiler fuel. On the other hand, Figure 20 (b)
364
Figure 14. Boiler power supply of the PEFC Figure 15. Power generation efficiency of the
SOFCPEFC combined system
in a cold, snowy area is very large compared with

the power load, there are few reduction effects of
shows the results including boiler fuel. In Figure the fuel consumption of the proposed system with
20 (a), the fuel consumption of the SOFC-PEFC boiler fuel. On the other hand, because there is
combined system is reduced 10 to 35% compared little heat load in mid-term and the summer sea-
with the SOFC or PEFC independent system. If son, the effect of the fuel reduction of the proposed
boiler fuel is added to the fuel consumption of system is large.
the fuel cell, as shown in Figure 20 (b), the fuel Figure 21 shows the daily mean power gen-
consumption in May and August will decrease eration efficiency of the SOFC-PEFC combined
greatly. Because the heat load of the winter season system. The power generation efficiency consid-
365
Figure 16. Bio-ethanol supply of the SOFC-PEFC

crogrid, the improvement of the efficiency de-
combined system
crease due to the partial-load operation of the fuel
cells is important.
Conclusions
The SOFC-PEFC combined system with a time

shitting of reformed gas is proposed to supply
energy to a microgrid consisting of 30 residences
in Sapporo, Japan. Three cases are proposed for
the operation plan of the SOFC-PEFC combined
system without a PV system and with 50% and
100% solar power. The following Conclusions
are obtained:
1. When photovoltaic generation is not in-

troduced into the SOFC-PEFC combined
system, the change in the power generation
efficiency is small. However, the load factor
of the proposal system falls when the amount
of photovoltaic power increases.
2. On the other hand, if the amount of photovol-
taics power generated increases, the amount
of daily bioethanol supplied to the reformer
will increase. Because the load factor of the
SOFC decreases if the power supply due to
photovoltaic power increases, power genera-
tion efficiency decreases. Therefore, because
the amount of exhaust heat from the SOFC
increases, the amount of bioethanol supplied
to the reformer increases. In other words,
the proposed system differs in performance
according to the season and the weather.
3. The fuel consumption of the SOFC-PEFC
combined system is reduced 10 to 35%
compared with the SOFC or PEFC systems
independently. If boiler fuel is added to
the fuel consumption of the fuel cell, the
ering all load patterns of the proposed system is fuel consumption in May and August will
27% to 48%. Although the power generation ef- decrease greatly. Because the heat load of
ficiency changes according to the season and load the winter season in a cold, snowy area is
pattern, the photovoltaic power influences the very large compared with the power load,
system efficiency most strongly. When introduc- there are few reduction effects on the fuel
ing photovoltaic power into an independent mi- consumption of the proposed system.
366
Figure 17. Natural gas supply of the SOFC-PEFC

POWER GENERATION
combined system
EFFICIENCY OF AN SOFC-
PEFC COMBINED SYSTEM
WITH TIME SHIFT UTILIZATION
OF SOFC EXHAUST HEAT
Introduction
PEFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) and

SOFC (solid oxide type fuel cell) have been de-
veloped as fuel cells for houses (Naim, Afgan, &
Maria, 2004; Gencoglu & Ural, 2009; Erdmann,
2003). The SOFC requires a higher operation
temperature compared to the PEFC. However, the
power generation efficiency is higher in SOFCs,
and high temperature exhaust heat can be widely
used. The SOFC-GT (gas turbine) combined
system was developed as an effective method to
use the high temperature exhaust heat of SOFC
(Lim, Song, Shin, Yang, Jung, Vinke, & Yang,
2008; Chan, Ho, & Tian, 2003; Akkaya, Sahin,
&Erdem, 2008; Motahar & Alemrajabi, 2009;
Haseli, Dincer, & Naterer, 2008). In this combined
system, the exhaust heat of the SOFC is used as
a heat source in the heat transfer medium of the
GT. Generally, calculations for the efficiency of
an energy system require knowledge about the
load pattern. Operation of the GT is dependent
on the amount of exhaust heat of the SOFC.
Furthermore, the exhaust heat of the SOFC and
operation of the GT synchronize. Therefore, the
load following operation of a microgrid using the
SOFC-GT combined system cannot maintain high
thermal efficiency. In the combined system with
4. The power generation efficiency considering the load following operation of the GT, and base
three load patterns (average load pattern, load operation of the SOFC, since the partial-
compressed load pattern and extended load load characteristic of the GT is poor, the power
pattern) of the proposed system is 27% to generation efficiency of the whole system is not
48%. However, because the heat load is very high. In the combined system with the base load
large compared with the power load, the operation of the GT and load following operation
difference between the SOFC independent of the SOFC, since the exhaust heat of the SOFC
system and the PEFC independent system is not stabilized, the production of electricity
is small. of the GT is restricted. Moreover, the power
367
Figure 18. Boiler power supply of the SOFC-PEFC combined system
Figure 19. Heat storage quantities in case of average load patternof the SOFC-PEFC combined system
368
Figure 20. Analysis result of the fuel consumption of a representative day
Figure 21. Total power generation efficiency on a representative day of the SOFC-PEFC combined system
generation efficiency during partial-load of the ability to shift the utilization time of the produced
SOFC is greatly reduced compared to full-load reformed gas. Flexible operation can be planned
operation. Consequently, in order to obtain high because it is not necessary to synchronize the
power generation efficiency with the SOFC-GT exhaust heat output of the SOFC and utilization
combined system, either storage-of-electricity of the reformed gas. In this chapter, the installa-
equipment needs to be installed or uniform system tion of a SOFC-PEFC combined system into a
load is required. Therefore, this chapter examines microgrid used for supplying energy to 30 houses
a system which produces reformed gas with high in Sapporo, Japan is assumed. The SOFC is made
hydrogen concentration using the exhaust heat to correspond to the base load operation of the
of the SOFC. The system is characterized by the microgrid, and the PEFC is made to correspond
369
to the fluctuation load in the proposal system. In this high temperature exhaust heat. The reformed
this case, reformed gas is produced by supplying gas is stored in a cylinder, and the stored gas can
the exhaust heat of the SOFC to a steam reformer be supplied to the PEFC at an arbitrary time. Flex-
using natural gas. This reformed gas is stored, and ible operation can be planned because the exhaust
the system operation method for the next day is heat of the SOFC and power generation of the
planned with reference to the amount of stored PEFC is not synchronized. On the other hand, load
reformed gas. In this study, fuel consumption of with various fluctuations added to the microgrid
all equipment, power generation efficiency, and is expected. Accordingly, this study investigates
operation method of heat storage and boiler, when operation of the SOFC-PEFC combined system
operating the SOFC-PEFC combined system un- using three different power load patterns.
der different load patterns, is investigated. From
this result, the load characteristics of the system SOFC-PEFC Combined System
and average power generation efficiency when
installing the proposed system into the microgrid 1. Power System
are elucidated. Figure 23 is the block diagram of the SOFC-PEFC
combined system examined in this chapter. The
System Scheme SOFC installed into the system assumes an internal
reforming type. Natural gas and air for supplying
Microgrid Model the SOFC are heated by the SOFC exhaust through
a heat exchanger (HEX). The exhaust heat of the
Figure 22 shows a power system model of a mi- SOFC is supplied to a steam reformer (R/M) of
crogrid with 30 houses. This microgrid is installed natural gas, and reformed gas with high hydrogen
into a residential area; power and heat are supplied concentration is produced. Water contained in the
by introducing a SOFC-PEFC combined system. reformed gas is removed with an air-cooling con-
The SOFC outputs high temperature exhaust heat denser (C/S). After reducing the carbon monoxide
at 750 to 900 degrees Celsius. In this study, a in the reformed gas to several ppm by using CO
steam reformer of natural gas is operated using oxidation equipment (C/O), the reformed gas is
stored in a cylinder. The reformed gas stored in
the cylinder can be supplied to the PEFC at a later
Figure 22. Microgrid model of a power system
time. The power of the SOFC and PEFC is sup-
plied to DC-DC and DC-AC converters. Finally,
after changing this power to the target voltage
and frequency through an inverter, the power is
supplied to the microgrid.
2. Heat System
First, the exhaust heat of the SOFC is used for
heating natural gas and air. The remaining exhaust
heat is supplied to the steam reformer (R/M) of
natural gas. The exhaust heat of the natural gas
steam reformer is stored in a heat storage tank.
A heat exchanger is installed in the heat storage
tank, and heat is exchanged between tap water
370
Figure 23. SOFC-PEFC combined power system
and heat medium. A boiler is operated when the maximum power generation efficiency of SOFC
temperature of the heated tap water does not meet is high compared with PEFC. So, the SOFC is
demand. introduced into Fuel cell A in each model in Fig-
ure 24. Because the amount of exhaust heat by
Operation Method of the System the SOFC-PEFC combined system changes with
the operating method of the SOFC, the amount
Figure 24 shows the power operation model of of production of reformed gas changes by load
the SOFC-PEFC combined system introduced setup of Fuel cell A.
into the microgrid.
3. Model C
1. Model A In this section, the reforming gas consumed on the
In Model A, shown in Figure 24 (a), Fuel cell A cor- next day is manufactured using the exhaust heat
responds to base load operation of the microgrid, of the SOFC by Fuel cell B (that is, the PEFC). In
and Fuel cell B corresponds to fluctuation load. this case, the operation method of Model C, shown
Here, the base load of Model A is set up smaller in Figure 24 (c), can be considered. In Model C,
than the minimum of the load fluctuation. In this the load of Fuel cell A increases compared with
case, Fuel cell A is operated at maximum power Model B. When a part of the base load area is
generation efficiency at all times. included to the fluctuating load area, Fuel cell A
is accompanied by partial-load operation.
2. Model B The characteristics of each model of Figure 24
In Model B shown in Figure 24 (b), in order to are highly efficient SOFC under the base load and
make the power of Fuel cell A increase, the base PEFC with good efficiency under the partial load
load by Fuel cell A is set as the minimum of load corresponds to the fluctuation load. As a result,
fluctuation. Describe in the next Section, the the power generation efficiency of the system
371
Figure 24. Operation model of fuel cell systems

becomes flexible. Because the load of the SOFC of
A and B
Model C can be set up most highly, it is expected
that system overall efficiency improves greatly.
Partial-Load Characteristics
of Fuel Cells
Figure 25 (a) shows the relationship between the

load factor of the SOFC and power generation
efficiency with internal reforming (Develop-
ment of a several 10kW class circular-flat-type
low-temperature operation SOFC system. 2007).
Figure 25 (b) is the relationship between the output
of the reforming gas and reformer efficiency of
steam reforming using natural gas (Yasuda, 2005).
Furthermore, Figure 25 (c) shows the relationship
between the load factor of the PEFC with the re-
former, and power generation efficiency (Mathiak,
Heinzel, Roes, Kalk, Kraus, & Brandt, 2004; Oda,
1999; Dicks, Fellows, Mescal, & Seymour, 2000;
Mikkola, 2001; Alan & Donald, 2005). When
Figure 25 (a) is compared with Figure 25 (c), the
SOFC shows greater power generation efficiency
compared with the PEFC for 25% or more of the
load factor. When operating the SOFC with 25%
or less of the load factor, power generation effi-
ciency decreases drastically. Therefore, operation
of the SOFC at 25% or less of the load factor is
not generally assumed. The power generation ef-
ficiency of the SOFC differs by nearly 21% for load
factors of 25% and 100%. On the other hand, the
power generation efficiency of the PEFC differs
by nearly 11% for load factors of 15% and 100%.
The performance of R/M, S/U, and C/O is
dependent on the reformer efficiency, shown in
Figure 25 (b). Equation (14) is the definitional
equation of reformer efficiency.
Lower heating value of the reformed gas

R = 100
Natural gas supplly (heating value)
(14)
increases. Furthermore, since the reforming gas According to the difference of the output of
produced by the exhaust heat of the SOFC can reformed gas, reformer efficiency differs by less
be used at a later time, operation of the system than 10% (Figure 25 (b)). As for Fuel cell A,
372
Figure 25. Power generation efficiency of the

Time Shift Utilization of
SOFC and PEFC, and reformer efficiency
the Reformed Gas
This section describes the analysis method of the

SOFC-PEFC combined system with time shift
utilization of the SOFC exhaust heat. In order to
obtain the reformed gas supplied to the PEFC,
it is necessary to increase the capacity of the
SOFC. On the other hand, to reduce equipment
costs, the installed capacity of the SOFC needs to
be decreased. Figure 26 (a) shows the pattern of
each operating method of the SOFC and PEFC.
If the SOFC is made to correspond to the base
load operation, shown in Figure 26 (a), exhaust
heat shown in Figure 26 (b) will be outputted. The
steam reformer of natural gas is operated using
this exhaust heat, and the reformed gas shown in
Figure 26 (c) is produced. This stored reformed
gas is used for the operation of the PEFC for the
next day (Figure 26 (d)).
Here, the capacity of the SOFC and PEFC is
set using the following procedure.
1. Randomly set the capacity of the SOFC and

PEFC at first. The value of the base load
shown in Figure 26 (a) is the same as the
capacity of the SOFC.
2. Obtain the amount of exhaust heat of the
SOFC (Figure 26 (b)) from Figure 25 (a).
3. The amount of reformed gas produced
(Figure 26 (c)) is calculated from the rela-
tionship between the reformer efficiency;
output of reformed gas shown in Figure 25
(b) and amount of exhaust heat expelled by
the SOFC (Figure 26 (b)).
4. Operation of the PEFC for the next day is
planned by using the reformed gas described
in c. The PEFC is made to correspond to the
shown in Model C in Figure 24 (c), partial-load fluctuation load operation shown in Figure
operation is included. In this case, because the 26 (a). Therefore, if the load pattern of the
amount of exhaust heat supplied to the reformer next day is the same as the load pattern of a
is reduced, the output of reformed gas decreases. representative day, the capacity of the SOFC
However, production of reformed gas is stable and PEFC will satisfy the power demand
relative to reformer efficiency and reformed gas (base and fluctuating loads), shown in Figure
output, shown in Figure 25 (b). 26 (a).
373
Figure 26. Power division rate of fuel cell systems

6. Repeat calculation of b. to e. until the power
A and B
balance error of the system and reformed gas
is less than 0.1%. When the error is less than
0.1%, the capacity of the SOFC and PEFC
is considered optimized.
In the analysis of this chapter, operation is

planned so that the balance of power and heat
may be satisfied, and a detailed physical model
does not introduce.
Analysis Conditions
Load Model
In this analysis example, the microgrid is in-

stalled into 30 houses in Sapporo, Japan. Figure
27 shows the power and heat demand model in
30 houses in Sapporo (Alan, & Donald, 2005).
Air conditioning is not used during the summer
season (from July to September) in Sapporo.
Moreover, the heating load during the winter
season (from November to March) is contained
in the heat load shown in Figure 27 (b). There-
fore, the electricity demand model, shown in
Figure 27 (a), is mainly the load from lighting
and household appliances. In the SOFC-PEFC
combined system, the amount of reformed gas
produced changes with the operating methods of
the SOFC. For this reason, the power demand
pattern of the microgrid has a large influence on
operation plan of the system. Accordingly, this
chapter investigates two patterns based on the
power demand pattern shown in Figure 27 (a).
Figures 28 (a) and (b) are compressions of the
width of daily load fluctuations (compressed load
pattern) and extensions of the width of daily load
5. Calculate the power balance of the system fluctuations (extended load pattern), respectively.
and reformed gas from the operation plan These patterns compress and extend fluctuations
of the next day. When an error is found in of the average load of power demand on a rep-
each balance, b. is recalculated for different resentative day to 50%, and 150%, respectively.
capacities of the SOFC and PEFC. Here the load integration value (the amount of
374
Figure 27. Energy demand pattern of the microgrid. 30 houses in Sapporo-city, Japan.
Figure 28. Power demand model of the microgrid

power demand on the representative day) of both
patterns is the same as the total power demand
under average load. As a result, this chapter in-
vestigates the electricity demand model of the
microgrid of three patterns, shown in Figure 29
(this figure is an example of a representative
day in February).
Figure 29. Power demand pattern of the microgrid

(30 houses in Sapporo, Japan, a representative
day in February)
375
Equipment Characteristic pattern (Figure 29), calculated from the operation

analysis described in previous section, is 17.6 kW
The following equipment characteristics are used and 6.8 kW, respectively.
in the analysis. The heat storage tank assumes When the SOFC or PEFC is made to correspond
0.5% per hour of loss; and boiler efficiency is set to load fluctuation independently (Figure 30a and
to 90%. In the analysis, power consumption of the Figure 30b), there is little difference between the
auxiliary machinery used to maintain operation fuel consumption of SOFC to PEFC. This reason
of the system, such as the blower, pump, and for the difference is in the load characteristic of
controller, is not taken into consideration. More- each fuel cell, shown in Figures 25 (a) and (c).
over, power consumption of the compressor used On the other hand, the SOFC independent system
for storage of the reformed gas is not taken into consumes more boiler fuel in August. This is
consideration because it is small compared with because the power generation efficiency of the
the power demand. Each setting value described SOFC is high, so there is little exhaust heat ex-
in the top is a general actual value. pelled. For the same reason, the capacity of the
heat storage tank of the SOFC independent system
Analysis Results is small compared with that of the PEFC inde-
pendent system. Figure 30 (c) shows the analysis
Operation Plan in a Representative Day result of the SOFC-PEFC combined system. The
result of the load factor and power generation
Figure 30 shows the result of the operation analysis efficiency of the SOFC and PEFC is shown on
of the independent SOFC, independent PEFC, and the left-hand side for every month. The load fac-
SOFC-PEFC combined systems in a representa- tor of the SOFC was almost constant except for
tive day in February (winter season) and August 0:00 to 4:00. In other words, partial-load operation
(summer season). The analysis results of the was seen from 0:00 to 4:00. Therefore, the op-
relationship between the load factor and power eration method of both months in Figure 30 (c)
generation efficiency, fuel consumption in the is that of Model C, shown in Figure 24 (c). Since
boiler and fuel cell, and heat storage plan of each reformed gas is produced in the SOFC-PEFC
system are shown in Figure 30. The maximum combined system using the exhaust heat of the
power load of the microgrid shown in Figure 27 SOFC, there is little remaining exhaust heat. As
(a) appears in February. Therefore, the capacity of a result, the capacity of the heat storage tank of
the SOFC and PEFC should be optimized under the SOFC-PEFC combined system is the smallest
electricity demand mode in a representative day in of all the systems.
February. As a result, considering the maximum
power load in a representative day in February, Influence of the Load Pattern
the capacity of the SOFC and PEFC was set to
23 kW. The operation analysis in the individual Figures 31 and 32 show the operation analysis
operation of the SOFC and PEFC also uses this result of the SOFC-PEFC combined system
capacity (23 kW). On the other hand, the load of analyzed using the compressed (Figure 28) and
the SOFC-PEFC combined system must combine extended (Figure 29) load patterns. When load
the power load and load from the production of patterns differ, the combination of the capacity
reformed gas. For this reason, the total capacity of of SOFC and PEFC differs. The main reason for
the SOFC and PEFC exceeds 23 kW. The capac- this is that the maximum load changes with load
ity of the SOFC and PEFC with an average load patterns. As a result of the operation analysis
376
Figure 30. Analysis results of daily operation planning
377
Figure 31. Analysis results of daily operation planning with the compressed load pattern (14.2 kW SOFC
and 4.9 kW PEFC combined system)
Figure 32. Analysis results of daily operation planning with the extended load pattern (21.8 kW SOFC
and 7.4 kW PEFC combined system)
described in previous section, the capacity of load factor of the SOFC in a representative day in
the SOFC and PEFC is calculated to be 14.2 kW August, shown on the left side of Figure 31 (b),
and 4.9 kW under the compressed load pattern, changes slightly between 0:00 and 4:00. On the
respectively. On the other hand, each capacity is other hand, as shown on the left of Figure 32 (a)
21.8 kW and 7.4 kW under the extended load pat- and (b), there is a large change between 0:00 and
tern. As shown on the left side of Figure 31 (a), 6:00 and a small change between 14:00 and 16:00
the load factor of the SOFC in February under the in the load factor of the SOFC in a representative
compressed load pattern is almost constant. The day in February and August under the extended
378
Figure 33. Fuel consumption of each system under

load pattern. The difference in the load pattern of
the average load pattern
the microgrid gives the change in the load factor
of the SOFC-PEFC combined system, and influ-
ences power generation efficiency. As a result,
the fuel consumption of and amount of exhaust
heat generated by the system also change. During
extended load pattern operation, the capacity of
the heat storage tank is small, which results from
the difference in the amount of exhaust heat.
Fuel Consumption and Power

Generation Efficiency
Figure 33 shows the analysis result of fuel con-

sumption of the independent SOFC, independent
PEFC, and SOFC-PEFC combined systems for
a representative day every month. The average
load pattern was used in this analysis. Total fuel
consumption is strongly influenced by heat load
every month, with the exception of the summer
season, since there is more heat compared to
electricity demand. On the other hand, since there
is no large monthly difference in power load, the
fuel consumption of the fuel cell shows few differ-
ences over the course of a year. The independent
PEFC system clearly consumes more total fuel
as compared with the other systems (Figure 33
(b)). This is because the average power generation
efficiency of the PEFC in the power load pattern
is low compared with the independent SOFC and
SOFC-PEFC combined systems.
Figure 34 shows the average value of the load
factor and power generation efficiency of each
system in a representative day for every month.
The average load pattern was used in this analysis.
In the SOFC-PEFC combined system, the load is
added to the SOFC by production of reformed
379
Figure 34. Load factor and efficiency of the fuel

Evaluation of the SOFC-PEFC
cell under the average load pattern
Combined System
Figure 35 shows analysis results of the average

power generation efficiency of each system in
representative day every month using three load
patterns (average, compressed and extended load
pattern). If the compressed load pattern is installed
into the SOFC-PEFC combined system, the
highest average power generation efficiency can
be obtained. On the other hand, the independent
PEFC load following operation shows the lowest
average power generation efficiency. Figure 36
shows the results of each system when using the
analysis results of the annual average of the SOFC
independent system under 100% average load. The
load factor of the SOFC-PEFC combined system
rises nearly 20% compared with other systems.
As a result, the power generation efficiency of
the system increases nearly 4% compared with
the SOFC independent system. Although the fuel
consumption in the fuel cell of the SOFC-PEFC
Figure 35. Analysis results of the average power

generation efficiency of each system
gas. By increasing the load factor in the SOFC

and using time shift utilization of the exhaust heat,
the power generation efficiency in the proposed
system is high compared with the other systems.
The average power generation efficiency of the
proposed system can be maintained at nearly 48%
every month.
380
Figure 36. Comparison of each system. The annual average result of the SOFC combined system when
using 100% average load
combined system is reduced by 11% compared and power generation efficiency occurs 13% of
with the SOFC independent system, the boiler fuel difference. However, when the fuel consumption
consumption of the proposal system increases as of the boiler is taken into consideration, the dif-
a result of the amount of exhaust heat. Therefore, ference in total fuel consumption is 3%. In this
the total fuel consumption of the SOFC-PEFC case, since there is a large space heating demand
combined system is only reduced by 1% compared in the microgrid, the fuel consumption reduction
with the independent SOFC system. Figure 37 of the fuel cell becomes small.
shows the operation result when installing each
load pattern into the SOFC-PEFC combined sys- Conclusions
tem. The average load pattern was installed in the
analysis of this figure. Moreover, the operation In this chapter, the operation plan of the SOFC-
result of the annual average was set to 100%. The PEFC combined system with time shift utilization
load factor of the fuel cell shows nearly 43% of of the SOFC exhaust heat is investigated. The
difference by the difference in the load pattern, analysis assumed installation of the proposed
Figure 37. Influence of the SOFC-PEFC combined system on the load characteristics. The annual aver-
age result of the SOFC-PEFC combined system when using 100% average load.
381
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385
Chapter 12
Bioethanol Solar Reforming
System for Distributed Fuel Cell
ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two sections, Hydrogen Production Characteristics of a Bioethanol Solar
Reforming System with Solar and Efficiency Analysis of a Combined PEFC and Bioethanol-Solar-
Reforming System for Individual Houses. Heat transfer analysis applied in reforming the catalyst layer
of the reactor of FBSR (bioethanol steam reforming system) and the temperature distribution and tran-
sient response characteristics of the gas composition of the process are investigated in the 1st section
The overall efficiency of the production of electricity and heat power of the FBSR system is determined
by examining its thermal output characteristic in the 2nd section. It dependes for the overall efficiency
of the system on the amount of solar radiation fluctuation rather than the amount of solar radiation.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION conditions of unstable solar insulation. Therefore,

heat transfer analysis applied in reforming the
The summary of the 1st section is as follows. catalyst layer of the reactor and the temperature
The development of a bioethanol steam reform- distribution and transient response characteris-
ing system (FBSR) is considered as a means of tics of the gas composition of the process were
distributing energy using PEFCs. Small-scale investigated. As a case study, meteorological data
solar collectors (collection areas on the order of for representative days in March and August in
several m2) are installed in a house as a method for Sapporo, Japan were recorded, and the hydrogen
applying the FBSR. However, the temperature dis- production speed, power generation output and
tribution of a reforming catalyst fluctuates under amount of electricity purchased were analyzed.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5796-0.ch012
Bioethanol Solar Reforming System for Distributed Fuel Cell
The results showed that although fluctuations HYDROGEN PRODUCTION

in solar insolation affected the efficiency of the CHARACTERISTICS OF A
FBSR, the average efficiency of each representa- BIOETHANOL SOLAR REFORMING
tive day exceeded 40%. By installing two solar SYSTEM WITH SOLAR
collectors, each with a collection area of 1 m2, INSOLATION FLUCTUATIONS
21% to 25% of the average power demand of an
individual house can be supplied. Introduction
The summary of the 2nd section is as follows.
In this section, the development of a FBSR using The thermal efficiency in fuel cells generally de-
sunlight as a heat source was investigated. The sys- pends on the supply method of hydrogen. A large
tem was investigated using the experimental result quantity of CO2 is discharged by reforming systems
of catalyst performance, and numerical analysis. that use fossil fuels as a heat source and reforming
If ethanol purity is high, the production method fuel. So, there are researches on much hydrogen
of the bioethanol used for the proposal system production technology using solar energy currently
will not be limited. The overall efficiency of the (for example, Obara & Tanno [2007a, 2007b,
production of electricity and heat power of this 2008]). Steam reforming of bioethanol, however,
system was determined by examining its thermal is driven by heat from solar collectors (i.e., a fuel
output characteristic. The FBSR was introduced cell system with a bioethanol solar reforming
into standard individual houses in Sapporo, Japan system, or FBSR) (Obara & Tanno, 2007a). We
for analysis. The amount of hydrogen production, have previously proposed the production charac-
the production-of-electricity characteristic, and teristics of a domestically installed reformed gas
the thermal output characteristic were examined system (Akpan, Akande, Aboudheir, Ibrahim, &
using meteorological data on representative Idem, 2007), and a method for weather prediction
days in March and August. Compared with the using a layered neural network (Obara & Tanno,
representative day in March (28.0 MJ/Day), the 2007b, 2008). FBSR operation results in hydrogen
solar radiation of the representative day in August production, which results from supplying ethanol/
(37.0 MJ/Day) is large. However, the amount of water vapour to a reforming catalyst layer. The fuel
solar radiation fluctuation of the representative conversion rate depends on the temperature of the
day in August in this analysis is large compared catalyst layer and the space velocity of the ethanol/
with the representative day in March. It depends water vapour. Furthermore, the temperature of
for the overall efficiency of the system on the the catalyst layer is strongly influenced by solar
amount of solar radiation fluctuation rather than radiation. If the amount of solar radiation input
the amount of solar radiation. As a result, the to the acceptance surface of the FBSR fluctuates
overall efficiency of the system, defined as the sharply over a short-time period, the reforming
rate of power and heat output compared to the reaction in the catalyst layer will not fully advance
amount of solar heat collected, was calculated to due to a response delay. Therefore, in this Section,
be 47.4% and 41.9% on the representative days the unsteady heat transfer of the catalyst layer
in March and August, respectively. installed in the reforming unit is analyzed, and the
386
temperature distribution and transient response shown in Figure 1 (b). The reforming component
characteristics of the composition of process gas consists of solar collector B and the reactor, with
are investigated. Next, the hydrogen production the catalyst layer shown in Figure 1 (c). The
characteristics of the FBSR are deduced from the reactor of the reforming component generates
results of this analysis. Furthermore, the output the reformed gas with high concentrations of
characteristics of the PEFC are examined. The hydrogen. A large amount of CO is contained in
objective of this study is to clarify the character- this reformed gas. Consequently, reformed gas is
istics of hydrogen production, efficiency of the supplied to the shift and CO oxidation units, and
reforming component, and operation method for the CO concentration is subsequently reduced.
the FBSR under conditions of short-time solar Moreover, because much of the water vapour is
insolation fluctuation. With this information, we contained in the reformed gas, water is removed
can compare the economic performances and using the gas cooler. After completing these pro-
environmental impacts of photovoltaic and other cesses, the reformed gas is supplied to the PEFC,
reforming systems. The efficiency of the reform- and direct-current power is obtained. This power
ing component is defined as the higher heating is adjusted using a DC-DC converter, DC/AC
value of hydrogen / the amount of collection of a converter and inverter. However, when customer
solar insolation per day. demand exceeds power output from the system,
power is supplied commercially.
Fuel Cell System with a Bioethanol
Solar Reforming System (FBSR) Reforming Component
System Block Diagram The reactor shown in Figure 1 (c) is installed at

the focal spot of solar collector B, with diameter
Figure 1 (a) shows the power system block dia- Dcs and width Lcs , in the reforming component,
gram of a fuel cell system with a bioethanol solar shown in Figure 1 (b). One of the end faces of the
reformer (FBSR) (Obara & Tanno, 2007a, 2007b, reactor is the acceptance surface of the solar in-
2008). Two parabolic mirrors (solar collector) with solation, with area Ahs . Ethanol/water vapor is
a solar tracking system are introduced into the supplied from the heat exchange surface of the
system. The solar energy obtained by solar col- reactor. The solar insolation input to the heat
lector A is used for vaporization of the bioethanol exchange surface is supplied directly to the cata-
solution (heat source of a vaporizer unit). The solar lyst layer in the reactor. In this Section, the fuel
energy obtained by solar collector B is used as vapor accompanying the reaction supplied to the
the heat source for the reforming reaction. In this catalyst layer is described as process gas.
Section, the collecting areas of solar collectors A
and B are set to 1 m2 (unit area). Heat Transfer Analysis
The Reformed Gas and Power System Reactor Model
The molar ratio of steam to ethanol (S/C) of the The reactor shown in Figure 1 (c) is filled with
ethanol fuel supplied to the vaporizer unit from spherical reforming catalyst several millimeters
the ethanol tank is set as 3.0. The ethanol solu- in diameter. As shown in Figure 2 (a), all of the
tion is evaporated by supplying heat from solar walls except the solar insolation acceptance sur-
collector A to the vaporizer. The ethanol/water face in the reactor are heat insulated. Moreover,
vapor is supplied to the reforming component,
387
Figure 1. PEFC with bioethanol solar reforming (FBSR)
part of the thermal energy of the solar insolation aforementioned heat dissipation, is supplied to
arrive to the heat exchange surface of the reactor the catalyst layer from the heat exchange surface,
is emitted to the ambient air by convective and is used for reforming via heat conduction
q con (Equation (1)) and radiative q rad (Equation between catalyst particles and convection of pro-
(2)) heat transfer. Solar insolation, except for the cess gas.
388
Figure 2. Heat transfer analysis
qcon = Ahs h (Ths T ) (1) Nu = 9.49 (Re Pr)

0.516
D
1.43
(3)
c + 27.2 Da 0.325
( )
qrad = hs Ahs Ths4 T4 (2) Dcl
Reactor hg Dc
Nu = (4)
g
Equation (3) describes the heat convection of the
catalyst layer, and it contains the Damkohler cor-
ug Dc
rection number Da (Usami, Fukusako, & Yama- Re = (5)
g
da, 2000). The right-hand side of Equation (3)
consists of terms describing the convection and
chemical reaction of process gas. Here, Nu , Re
and Da are calculated using Equations (4) to (6),
Da = (H r ar ) Dc ( g
ug C g Tg ) (6)
respectively.
389
Reforming Reaction 2. The temperature dependence of the physical-

property value is taken into account.
Equation (7) is the reaction formula of steam 3. The flow velocity of the process gas is uni-
reforming of ethanol. However, the conver- form in all cross-sections.
sion rate from ethanol to hydrogen depends on 4. The pressure loss of process gas is not taken
the temperature of the catalyst layer and space into consideration.
velocity of the ethanol/water vapour. Therefore
in the analysis in this Section, the experimental Assumption c. and d. differ from an actual state
results of E. Akpan et. al., who investigated steam strictly. However, it is thought that these assump-
reforming of ethanol (Figure 2 (b)) using a com- tions have the small influence on heat transmission.
mercial catalyst, is applied. Figure 2 (b) shows the Figure 2 (c) shows the division elements elx ,r of
relationship between the amount of the catalyst, the catalyst layer. Here, x = 1, 2,..., N x ,
flow rate of ethanol, temperature of the catalyst
layer, and fuel conversion rate. The fuel conver- r = 1, 2,..., N r , N r is the element number of the
sion increases such that the catalyst is highly filled catalyst layer.
when the temperature is high.
Heat Diffusion Equation
C2 H5OH + 3H2O
(7) Based on assumptions a. to d., described in the
2CO2 + 6H2 173kJ/mol
previous Section, and the boundary conditions of
Equations (9) to (11), the temperature distribution
Analysis Model of the Catalyst Layer of the catalyst layer is analyzed using the diffusion
equation, Equation (8). A central finite difference
The temperature, coordinates of the radial direc- method is introduced into Equation (8) in this
tion and coordinates of the axial direction of the analysis. Equation (12) is the mass flow rate of
catalyst layer are given by T , r and x , respec- process gas, and Equations (13) and (14) are the
tively. Equation (8) is the heat diffusion equation boundary conditions. The volume flow rate of the
in the catalyst layer. Here, qr is the amount of process gas in Equation (12) is ug , and g is the
endothermals in the catalyst layer, and c , C c mean density of the process gas. The value of u 0
and c are the density, specific heat and heat in Equation (14) represents the space velocity of
transfer coefficient of the catalyst, respectively; the fuel vapor at the entrance of the catalyst layer.
t is the sampling time. The catalyst layer of the This value is calculated by dividing the volume
cylinder type, shown in Figure 2 (a), is divided flow rate of the fuel vapor by the cross Section
into directions of r and x . These areas are used of the catalyst layer. Equation (15) is the value of
as elements for the analysis. A two-dimensional the endothermals from the reforming reaction.
model is used in this analysis, and the following Variables g g , and H r in Equation (15) are the
assumptions are introduced.
molar flow rate of process gas, conversion and
reaction heat, respectively. If the temperature T
Assumptions Used for the Analysis of the catalyst layer is known, the conversion
can be obtained from the characteristics of the
1. The catalyst and process gas are at a local
catalyst. Because H r is determined by the reac-
thermal equilibrium.
tion described by Equation (7), if g g is given, we
390
can calculate the amount of endothermals q r us- q s , convective heat transfer q con , and heat released
ing the reforming reaction (Equation (7)). by radiative heat transfer q rad (Equations (1) and
(2)). Since the temperature of the catalyst is low,
2T 1 T 2T C T radiation-heat transfer is considered to be small
+ + + q r = c c (8)
r 2 r r x 2 c t compared with heat conduction and heat transmis-
sion. Influence of the radiation heat transmission
is not taken into consideration in this analysis.
Boundary Conditions
The temperature distribution (Tx ,r ) of the catalyst
T layer, shown in Figure 2 (c), is obtained by intro-
= 0 at r = Rcl , 0 x Lcl (9) ducing the calculus of finite differences into
r
Equation (8). The temperature distribution is
T analyzed for under boundary conditions (Equa-
c = qs q rad q con =
x (10) tions (9) to (11)). The Gauss-Seidel method is
( )
qs Ts4 T4 h (Ts T ) used for calculating the convergence of the cal-
culus of finite differences. If the temperature
distribution Tx ,r is known, the conversion ( x ,r )
at x = 0, 0 r Rcl
of each element will be determined from the re-
T T lationship between the conversion and temperature
= 0 at x = Lcl , = 0 of the catalyst layer (Figure 2 (b)). According to
x r
the value of x ,r , the amount of endothermals (
at r = 0 T = T for t = 0 (11) qr ,x ,r ) involved in the reforming reaction of the

process gas is obtained from Equation (15). More-
over, the process gas composition at the outlet of
( u ) = 0
x g g
(12) element elx 1,r may be calculated from its com-
position at the outlet of element elx ,r . The tem-
u u perature distribution (Tx ,r ) of the catalyst layer is
= 0 at r = Rcl , = 0 at x = Lcl (13)
r x then calculated from these results. This calculation
is repeated until the solution converges with that
u
u = u 0 at x = 0 , = 0 at r = 0 (14) from the diffusion equation (Equation (8)). For
r
each sample, the convergence solution of Tx ,r is
q r = gg H r (15) obtained from the same calculation. If Tx ,r con-
verges, the distribution of the conversion and gas
Analysis Method composition can be determined.
Analysis Procedure Efficiency of the Reforming Component
The surface temperature Ths of the heat exchange The rate of the amount of solar radiation obtained
surface of the reactor is first calculated. This is by solar collectors A and B, and the higher calo-
calculated by using the heat capacity of the heat rific value of the produced hydrogen, is defined
exchange surface, input heat of solar insolation as the efficiency of the reforming component.
391
Table 1. Analysis condition
Equation (16) is the formula for the efficiency of age particle diameter of 3 mm and the packing
the reforming component. factor is 0.85. The transmissivity of the heat ex-
change wall of the reactor is set to 0.9, and the
The higher calorific collector efficiency (concentration factor of the
value of hydrogen Qh solar mirror) of the solar collectors is set to 90%.
s = = (16) The heat transfer coefficient h in Equation (1)
Amount of heat QA + QB
assumes natural convection. Here, h is set to 10
colleected per day
W/m2K. Moreover, hs in Equation (2) is 0.95.
The sampling interval time was 0.01 s and the
FBSR Operation analysis is calculated for a maximum 600 s.
System Specifications Analysis Conditions
Here, installation of the FBSR to the individual The length of the element is about 2 mm along
house in Sapporo, Japan is described. Table 1 the r and x directions of the catalyst layer. The
gives the analysis condition of the FBSR used in number of elements is N x = 30 and N r = 40
this case study. The area Ahs of the solar insola- for each direction. The sampling interval is 0.01
tion acceptance surface (heat exchange surface) s, and analysis takes no longer than 600 s. For the
of the reactor is 0.005 m2. The diameter Dcl of convergence calculation of the diffusion equation
the catalyst layer is 80 mm, and its width Lcl is shown in Figure (8), the analysis accuracy is less
60 mm. The supporting structure of the reforming than 10-5. S/C (molar ratio of steam to ethanol) of
catalyst is made of spherical alumina, the reactor the ethanol fuel supplied to the vaporizer was 3.0.
is filled with the reforming catalyst with an aver- For the fuel (ethanol solution) supply referenced
392
in Figure 2 (b), it was decided that the value production rate. For example, in conditions with
(amount of catalysts / ethanol flow rate) of the less than 10 s of solar insolation fluctuation, the
horizontal axis in the figure should be set to 35000 hydrogen production rate does not yield the rated
kg/(kmol/s). speed (0.008 mol/s) in all areas of the catalyst
layer, for a solar irradiance of 250 W/m2.
Analysis Results
Transient Response
Temperature Distribution Characteristics of the Reactor
of the Catalyst Layer
Figure 4 shows the transient response characteris-
Figure 3 (a) shows the results of the transient re- tics of the hydrogen production rate of the reactor.
sponse characteristics of the catalyst layer tempera- The period of stability of hydrogen production rate
ture. In this analysis, after the solar insolation was is so short that the solar irradiance input into the
input into the heat exchange surface of the reactor, reactor is large, and the hydrogen rate affects the
0 s is the time when the maximum temperature outside temperature. This is because the result
of the surface is stabilized. When the outside air of Equations (1) and (2) is affected by outside
temperature is 293 K, the heat exchange surface temperature. However, under actual weather con-
temperature, for a solar irradiance at 250 W/m2, ditions, a solar insolation fluctuation interval on
rises to about 500 K. On the other hand, at 1000 the order of tens of seconds appears most often.
W/m2, the heat exchange surface temperature Therefore, in the following Section, the hydrogen
rises to about 890 K. In Figure 3 (a), since the production rate of the FBSR is investigated using
solar irradiance is large, it is very sensitive to the observed solar irradiance data. This Section uses
temperature distribution of the catalyst layer. This observed solar irradiance data and outside air tem-
is because the conversion of the ethanol/water perature from the Surface-weather-observation
vapor increases, and the catalyst temperature in 1-minute data, 2007. Sapporo district meteorologi-
the reactor is high. In each result of Figure 3 (a), cal observatory, Japan. Meteorological Business
the temperature gradient along the x-axis has not Support Center.
reached zero after 100 s. Since the supply direction
of fuel is the same as the supply direction of solar Hydrogen Production Characteristics
radiation, the temperature gradient of the x-axis Based on Observed Weather Data
direction becomes small.
1. Observed Weather Data
Composition of the Process Gas Figures 5 (a) and (b) are observed weather data
of solar irradiance and outside air temperature for
Figure 3 (b) shows the process gas composition August 23 and March 1, 2007 in Sapporo. More-
along the direction of the x axis of the catalyst over, Figure 6 shows observed data during daylight
layer. The molar flow rate of hydrogen is larger hours for each day. Because the characteristics
than for other gas compositions. The distribution of solar irradiance and outside air temperature in
of the molar flow rate of hydrogen, and stable March and August differ greatly, representative
time change as a function of the magnitude of the days were chosen from these months. The solar
solar insolation, were input into the reactor. At irradiance in Figures 5 (a) and (b) correspond with
the time of low solar irradiance, the hydrogen daylight hours, shown in Figure 6. The daylight
production rate for short-time solar insolation hours is defined in period with direct solar radia-
with a lot of fluctuation may result in an unstable tion 0.12 kW/m2 or more. The amount of hydrogen
393
Figure 3. Temperature distribution and flow rate of process gas in the catalyst layer. Outside air tem-
perature 293 K.
Figure 4. Flow rate of hydrogen production
394
Figure 5. Weather observation at 1-min intervals in Sapporo
Figure 6. Weather observation during daylight hours at 1-min intervals
production, reforming component efficiency, and The solar irradiance on the morning of March 1
operation method of the FBSR are investigated is stable (Figure 5 (a)), while the solar insolation
using these data. fluctuation as a result of clouds was recorded on
August 23 (Figure 5 (b)).
2. The Amount of Hydrogen Production
Figure 7 shows the amount of hydrogen produced Solar Insolation Fluctuation and
during every minute of each representative day. As Efficiency of the Reforming Component
shown in Figures 5 (a) and (b), the solar insolation
fluctuation from 6:00 to 11:00 differs greatly on Results for solar irradiance, amount of hydrogen
each representative day. As a result, the fluctuation production, and efficiency of the reforming com-
frequency of the amount of hydrogen produced on ponent (Equation (16)) on each representative day
August 23 appears greater than that of March 1. are shown in Table 2. The solar irradiance on the
395
Figure 7. Characteristics of the hydrogen flow rate of the FBSR
Figure 8. Analysis results of the operation plan on March 1, 2007
representative day in March is 1.32 times that of shown in Figures 5 (a) and (b), solar insolation
the representative day in August. However, the fluctuated more in August as compared to March.
difference in the amount of hydrogen produced These figures show that fluctuation of the solar
is 1.17 times. On the other hand, the efficiency irradiance influences the amount of hydrogen
of the reforming component in March was larger produced by the FBSR. Accordingly, the amount
than in August (47%, vs. 42%, respectively). As of hydrogen produced and efficiency of the re-
396
Table 2. Analysis results of the FBSR performance
forming component change with the magnitude the power storage equipment is not connected to
of solar insolation fluctuation. Moreover, frequent the FBSR, the production of electricity strongly
occurrence of large solar insolation fluctuations is depends on the characteristics of solar irradiance
disadvantageous for the efficiency of the reform- and outside air temperature for that day. In this
ing component. analysis, the collection area of solar collectors A
and B were set to 1 m2. The characteristics of the
Operational Plan for the FBSR purchased power at this time are given in Figures
8 (c) and 9 (c). From these results, the load peak
The power usage, when introducing the FBSR at 8:00 in the morning can be cut by using power
into the average individual house in Sapporo, is generated by the FBSR. However, in order to cut
planned using the analysis results of Figures 5 to 7. the peak around 19:00, it is necessary to use a
time-shifted power supply by introducing a bat-
1. Power Load and Purchased Power tery and hydrogen storage system.
Sapporo is located in a cold district, and the cool-
ing load of the summer season is not taken into 2. Exhaust Gas
consideration. The heating load of the winter, Figure 10 shows the minute-by-minute discharge
however, is supplied from the exhaust heat and pattern of CO2 by the FBSR. The CO2 emissions
backup boiler of the system. Therefore, the power on March 1 and August 23 are 0.732 kg/Day and
load patterns for March and August (Figures 8 (a) 0.854 kg/Day, respectively. The greenhouse-
and 9 (a)) show that there is no large difference in gas-emission-factor for power generation in the
power usage. However, as Figures 5 and 6 show, Greenhouse Gas Discharge Calculation Method
the solar irradiance and outside air temperature Investigative Commission Report (Ministry of
differ greatly for each representative month. Environment in Japan, August 2000) is 0.378
Figures 8 (b) and 9 (b) show the amount of elec- kgCO2/kWh. On the other hand, the CO2 emis-
tricity produced every minute in the FBSR. Since sions with the FBSR in March and August were
397
Figure 9. Analysis results of operation on August 23, 2007
Figure 10. Analysis results for CO2 emissions
the same: 0.306 kgCO2/kWh. Using the FBSR, 21.4% in March. These efficiencies are advanta-
the amount of greenhouse gas discharge can be geous compared with the power generation of a
reduced by 19%, compared to commercial power. photovoltaic cell. They can be further increased
by increasing the utilization rate of renewable
3. The Utilization Rate of Renewable Energy energy, which can be done by increasing the
As shown in Table 2, the percentage utilization collecting area of solar collectors A and B.
of renewable energy by the FBSR in this Sec- When increasing the collecting area, it becomes
tion (where the collecting area of the two solar necessary to examine the method of storage of
collectors is 2.0 m2) is 25.3% in August and produced hydrogen. Some potential methods for
398
the storage of produced hydrogen include using (Ministry of Environment in Japan, August,
a hydrogen cylinder and battery (e.g., blocks of 2000) is used, the amount of greenhouse
broken line in Figure 1 (a)). gas discharge in the FBSR is 19% lower
compared to commercial power.
Conclusions 3. The percent utilization of renewable energy
by the 2-m2 collecting area of the FBSR was
The hydrogen production rate, power output, and 25.3% in August and 21.4% in March. These
amount of power purchased for a PEFC using a efficiencies are superior to the efficiency
bioethanol reforming system (FBSR) were inves- of power generation in a photovoltaic cell.
tigated by numerical analysis. In this Section, heat The efficiency performance of the FBSR
transfer analysis was introduced into the catalyst can sufficiently compete with a commercial
layer of the reforming component. As a result, the photovoltaic cell.
relationship between the supply of solar insolation
and hydrogen production rate became clear, and As uncertainty in this analysis, the difference
the following Conclusions were obtained. in assumptions described in previous Section, the
calculation error, the setting performance of each
1. The hydrogen molar flow rate and stability equipment, etc. can be considered. Magnitude
time period of the steam reforming reaction of these influences is explained by future study.
change with the magnitude of solar insola-
tion. Moreover, fluctuations in the amount
of solar insolation have large effects on EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS OF
the hydrogen production rate of the FBSR. A COMBINED PEFC AND
Accordingly, the efficiency of the reforming BIOETHANOL-SOLAR-REFORMING
component falls due to fluctuations in solar SYSTEM FOR INDIVIDUAL HOUSES
insolation. If the solar insolation fluctuation
is mostly on the order of tens of seconds, Introduction
the reforming reaction may not be able to
obtain a stable production rate (rated speed) The development of a distributed power supply
of hydrogen, and the amount of hydrogen with limited greenhouse gas emission is a global
produced and efficiency of the reforming issue of current interest and importance. PEFCs
component will decrease. (polymer electrolyte fuel cells) are one candidate
2. When the amount of hydrogen produced by for a clean, distributed power supply. However,
the FBSR was analyzed using meteorologi- the environmental impact of fuel cells changes
cal data from Sapporo, Japan on March 1 greatly depending on the method of hydrogen
and August 23, 2007, the efficiency of the production. For example, a large quantity of CO2
reforming component was calculated to is discharged when using reforming methods that
be 40% or more on both days. Moreover, employ fossil fuels. Alternatively, a fuel cell sys-
the CO2 emissions on March 1 and August tem that uses the heat of a small solar collector for
23, 2007 from the FBSR were 0.732 kg/ the steam reforming of bioethanol, a bioethanol
Day and 0.854 kg/Day, respectively. reforming system for fuel cells (FBSR system), has
When the greenhouse gas emission fac- been examined (Obara & Tanno, 2007a, 2007b,
tor for power generation specified in the 2008). Furthermore, there are researches on much
Greenhouse Gas Discharge Calculation hydrogen production technology using solar en-
Method Investigative Commission report ergy currently (for example, Azad, Kesavan, &
399
Al-Batty, 2009; Noglik & Roeb, 2009; Turner, Moreover, it clarified the generation efficiency
Sverdrup, Mann, Maness, Kroposki, Ghirardi, of the FBSR when taking into consideration the
Evans, & Blake, 2008; Petrasch & Steinfeld, 2007). transient response characteristic of the reforming
In this research, we have investigated the charac- reaction. This chapter investigates the thermal
teristics of the reformed gas production (Obara output characteristic of the FBSR. The overall ef-
& Tanno, 2007a), the production-of-electricity ficiency of the system is clarified in consideration
characteristic of the FBSR using the weather of these results and the result of the last report.
forecast (Obara &Tanno, 2007b, 2008), and the It is the objective of this chapter to highlight the
relationship between solar insolation with fluctua- differences between the FBSR and competing
tion and a production-of-electricity characteristic technologies, such as photovoltaic cells.
(Fresno, Fernndez-Saavedra, Gmez-Mancebo,
Vidal, Snchez, Rucandio, Quejido, & Romero, Material and Method
2009). This chapter continues these reports. The
main objectives of this chapter are to compare System Block Diagram
the efficiency of the overall efficiency of the
FBSR, and competition technology. If the overall Figure 11 (a) is a block diagram of the fuel cell
efficiency of the proposal system is higher than system with a bioethanol solar reforming system
competition technology, the trial production of (FBSR). The solar tracking system is introduced
the proposal system is effective. Moreover, in this into two solar collectors. Moreover, each collec-
study, fluctuation of solar radiation was taken into tors collecting area is nearly 1.0 m2. Bioethanol for
consideration to the reaction rate of steam reform- the boiler and the bioethanol solution for reforming
ing. There is no example of investigation of the are contained in a fuel tank. The S/C (molar ratio
solar reforming with solar radiation fluctuation of steam to ethanol (Xuan, Leung, Leung, & Ni,
in the past. The conversion rate of the reforming 2009) of the bioethanol solution for reforming is
reaction of ethanol/water vapor is influenced by 3.0. Two parabolic mirrors (solar collector) with
the temperature of a catalyst layer and the space a solar tracking system are introduced into the
velocity of a process gas (Fresno et al., 2009). A FBSR. The heat for fuel evaporation is condensed
pellet type reforming catalyst is installed in the in solar collector A while the heat for reforming
reactor of the FBSR. Reformed gas with a high of the fuel vapor is condensed in solar collector B.
hydrogen composition is outputted by supplying
ethanol/water vapor to the reactor under the control Fuel and Reformed Gas System
of reactor temperature. However, because the heat
source of a reactor is sunlight, the conversion rate 1. Flow of Fuel and Reformed Gas
of the fuel is affected by weather. Unsteady heat The fuel for reforming (bioethanol solution) is
transfer analysis was introduced into the catalyst supplied to the vaporizer installed in solar collector
layer in a previous examination (Fresno et al., A from the fuel tank using a pump. The fuel vapor
2009). From this analysis, the transient response is supplied to a reactor installed in solar collector
characteristic concerning the temperature distri- B. The reactor is filled with a reforming catalyst.
bution in the catalyst layer and composition of If the fuel vapor contacts the reforming catalyst,
the process gas were investigated. As a result, it will be reformed into gas with a high hydrogen
under the weather conditions with high levels of content. Surplus water and CO are contained in the
solar radiation fluctuation over a short time, it reformed gas. Therefore, water is removed using
became clear that a reforming reaction was not a gas cooler. Moreover, reformed gas is supplied
sufficient under the effect of a response delay. to a shift unit and a CO oxidation unit, and the
400
Figure 11. System design
401
amount of CO is oxidized. CO included in the analysis in this chapter, auxiliary-machinery

compressed hydrogen is also oxidized using the power of blowers and the pump is not included.
CO oxidation unit. The setting value of st , bl , dc , and it are
described in a later section.
2. Reaction Temperature and Chemical Re-
action Heat Operation Method of the System
Figure 11 (b) shows the relationship between
the chemical reaction heat and the goal response When fuel is supplied to vaporizer, the fuel gas is
temperature in each component of the system. The fed to the reforming component. Reformed gas is
shifter, the gas cooler, the CO oxidation, and the supplied to the shift unit and the gas cooler, and is
PEFC are accompanied by an exothermic reaction. stored using cylinder. In order to store hydrogen,
On the other hand, the vaporizer and the reformer the storage tank of the reformed gas is installed
are accompanied by an endothermic reaction. The in the system. While compressing and storing the
amount of endothermals of the vaporizer and the reformed gas, it removes the water vapor in the
reformer of the FBSR is supplied by the solar gas using a cooler. Reformed gas is fed to the CO
collectors. After supplying the exhaust heat of oxidation unit from the cylinder or the gas cooler,
the gas cooler, the CO oxidation, and the PEFC and is supplied to the fuel cell. To output power
to a heat storage tank, the heat is supplied to the to the commercial power grid (with a regular
demand side. The boiler is operated when there frequency and voltage), the output of the fuel
is less thermal storage than demand. cell is converted with a DC-DC converter and an
inverter. The exhaust heat from the gas cooler, the
Electric Power System fuel cell, and the CO oxidization unit is stored.
This heat is supplied to the demand side of the
If reformed gas is supplied to the PEFC, direct- FBSR. When supplied solar heat is insufficient,
current power will be obtained. This power is a boiler is operated.
supplied to the DC-DC converter, the DC/AC
converter, and the inverter, and the power and Heat Transfer Analysis
the frequency of regulation are supplied to the
demand side. When there are less power outputs Efficiency of Reforming Component
of the fuel cell than the quantity required, the
power is supplied to the demand side from the The reforming component shown in Figure 11 (a)
commercial power. consists of solar collector B and the reactor (Fig-
ure 12 (a)). A reactor end face is a solar insolation
Loss and Auxiliary-Machinery Power acceptance surface with area Ahs . Other surfaces
are insulated. The solar insolation collected by
Figure 11 (c) is a chart showing the efficiency solar collector B is inputted into the solar insola-
and conversion rate of all of the components of tion acceptance surface. Moreover, the heat input
the FBSR. The conversion rates for the reforming to this solar insolation acceptance surface heats
reaction ( r ), CO oxidation reaction ( co ), and the catalyst layer of the reactor. The efficiency of
hydrogen burning ( H ) are provided. The gen- the reforming component is determined by the
2
eration efficiency ( fc ) of the PEFC is described ratio of the rate of the higher heating value of the
hydrogen produced to that of the amount of con-
in following section. On the other hand, in the
402
Figure 12. Reactor
densed solar radiation in solar collectors A and ceptance surface on the reactor is discharged to
B. Equation (17) is the formula for the efficiency the ambient air by convection heat transfer q con
s of the reforming component. and radiation heat transfer q rad . Equation (18) is
the heat convection of the catalyst layer, and it
The higher heating contains the Damkohler correction number
value of hydrogen (Qh ) (Usami et al., 2000). The value of Da in Equation
s = (17) (18) is calculated using Equation (19).
Amount of heat
coollections per day ( QA + QB )
Nu = 9.49 (Re Pr)
0.516
D
1.43 (18)
Heat Transfer in the Catalyst Layer c + 27.2 Da 0.325
Dcl
The reactor is filled up with several millimeters
of the spherical reforming catalyst. In addition,
some of solar insolation inputted from the ac-
Da = (H r r ) Dc ( g
ug C g Tg ) (19)
403
Reforming Reaction and Analytical T

c = qs q rad q con =
Model for the Catalyst Layer x (22)
( )
qs Ts T h (Ts T )
4 4
The experimental result of ethanol steam reform-

ing using the commercial catalyst by Akpan et
at x = 0, 0 r Rcl
al., which is shown in Figure 12 (b), is introduced
into the analysis (Akpan et al., 2007). In this
figure, the relationship between the amount of T T
= 0 at x = Lcl , = 0 at r = 0
catalyst, the flow rate of ethanol, and the tem- x r
perature of the catalyst layer and the fuel conver- T = T for t = 0 (23)
sion rate of the catalyst is depicted. The fuel
conversion rate increases with an increasing
amount of catalyst and with increasing tem-
perature, as shown in Figure 12 (b). Equation
( u ) = 0
x g g
(24)
(20) is the two-dimensional heat diffusion equa-

tion of the catalyst layer. The temperature of the u u
catalyst layer is represented byT , the coordinates = 0 at r = Rcl , = 0 at x = Lcl (25)
r x
of the direction of the radial direction is repre-
sented by r , and the coordinates of the direction u
u = u 0 at x = 0 , = 0 at r = 0 (26)
of the catalyst layer is represented by x . A sur- r
face element is created in the direction of r , and
q r = g g r H r (27)
the direction of x , about the catalyst layer of
the cylinder type shown in Figure 12 (a). Figure
12 (c) portrays the element analysis model of Heat Diffusion Equation
the catalyst layer. The element number of the
catalyst layer is expressed with elx ,r (however, Equation (20) is discretized, and the temperature
distribution of the catalyst layer is analyzed under
x = 1, 2,..., N x , r = 1, 2,..., N r ).
the boundary conditions of Equations (21) to (23).
2T 1 T 2T The central finite difference method (Mitchell &
Griffiths, 2001) is used to calculate the discretize
r 2 + r r + x 2
(20) Equation (20) in this chapter. Here, qs is the heat
C T
+q r = c c concerning the heat exchange wall of the reactor.
c t Equations (21) to (27) are given as the boundary
condition when calculating Eq (20). Equation (23)
Boundary Conditions is the boundary condition of temperature and
Equation (24) is the boundary condition of mass
T flow of process gas. Equations (25) and (26) are
= 0 at r = Rcl , 0 x Lcl (21) the boundary conditions of space velocity. Fur-
r
thermore, Equation (27) is the boundary condition
404
of molar flow rate of the process gas. Equation layer is calculated from these results, and this
(24) is the mass flow rate of the process gas, and calculation is repeated to convergence of the
Equations (25) and (26) are the boundary condi- discretization equation of Equation (20).
tions in this analysis. The volume flow rate of the
process gas is ug in Equation (24), and g is the Amount of Exhaust Heat
mean density. The value u 0 in Equation (26) is
1. Gas Cooler
the space velocity of the fuel vapor at the entrance
The exhaust heat of the gas cooler is calculated
of the catalyst layer. This value is the result of
using Equation (28) where the number of com-
dividing the volume flow rate of the fuel vapor
by the cross section of the catalyst layer. Equation ponents in the process gas is N g and t is the
(27) expresses endothermals from the reforming difference in temperature between the process gas
reaction. Variables g g , , and H r in Equation in the gas cooler entrance and exit. C n and Gn
(27) express the molar flow rate of process gas, are the specific heat and mass flow rates of the
the conversion ratio, and the reaction heat, respec- gas composition n .
tively. If the temperature T of the catalyst layer
Ng
is known, the conversion rate can be obtained
H gc = t (C n Gn ) (28)
from the characteristic of the catalyst. Because n =1
H r is determined by the reforming reaction, if
g g is given, the amount of endothermals q r can 2. CO Oxidation Unit
be calculated using the reforming reaction. In the CO oxidation unit, the CO concentration
is reduced by CO burning. However, the hydrogen
Analysis Method contained in the process gas in the case of CO
burning may also burn. This selectivity is de-
Temperature Distribution of the Catalyst cided by control of the catalyst temperature. In
Layer, and the Composition Distribution reality, some of the hydrogen also burns under
strict temperature control. In this chapter, the rate
The temperature distribution (Tx ,r ) of the catalyst of hydrogen burning in the process gas is set at
layer shown in Figure 12 (c) is obtained by intro- 3%. The exhaust heat of the CO oxidation unit is
ducing calculus of finite differences into Equation calculated using Equation (29). Here, V is the
(20). The boundary conditions at this time are volume flow rate of each gas and J is the calo-
shown in Equation (21) to Equation (26). The rific value.
Gauss Seidel method is used for convergence
calculation of the calculus of finite differences. H ox = VCO JCO + 0.03 VH J H (29)
2 2
If the temperature distribution Tx ,r is decided, the

conversion rate ( x ,r ) in the each element is ob- 3. PEFC
tained based on the relationship between catalyst When a PEFC of small capacity compared to the
temperature and conversion rate (Figure 12 (b)). power demand amount is introduced, the operation
The amount of endothermals of process gas (qr ,x ,r ) time of a full load is long. Generally, the exhaust
heat power of a PEFC differs with load factor.
is calculated based on the value of x ,r . The
The PEFC in this chapter has many full-load
temperature distribution (Tx ,r ) of the catalyst operation hours because the capacity is small
405
compared to the power demand. The PEFC often 3. Solar Collector and Fuel Supply
has to operate with a high load factor. Therefore, In the analysis in this chapter, the collecting area
the generation efficiency ( fc ) of the PEFC is set of solar collector A and solar collector B were
as 65%. On the other hand, the exhaust heat of both set to be 1 m2 (unit area). In the convergence
the PEFC is calculated to be 30% of the calorific calculation of the discretization equation, an
power of supply hydrogen. analytical accuracy of 10-5 was used. The use of
an ethanol solution fuel supply determined that
Operation Case the value of the horizontal axis in Figure 12 (b)
(Amount of catalysts /Ethanol flow rate) is 35000
Specification of the kg/(kmol/s).
Reforming Component
Storage of the Reformed Gas
1. Catalyst Layer
The FBSR was introduced into individual houses The reformed gas can be compressed and stored
in Sapporo, Japan. The specification of the reform- in the FBSR (broken-line block in Figure 11 (a)).
ing component introduced into this case analysis Accordingly, the reformed gas with the pressure
is described in Table 1. The diameter of the cata- P0 and the flow rate U 0,t outputted from the gas
lyst layer Dcl is 80 mm and its width Lcl is 60 cooler is pressurized to Pcp with a compressor.
mm. The reactor is filled up with the reforming Here, the subscript t is sampling time. The work
catalyst of 3 mm average particle diameter. The Wp,t of the compressor is assumed to be the work
catalyst filling factor is 0.85. The detailed ex- of compression by an ideal gas and is calculated
perimental results of the ethanol steam reforming using Equation (30). The compressor efficiency
by this reforming catalyst are described by refer-
cp in the equation includes the electricity con-
ence 6. In addition, the catalyst layer is divided
sumption in an electric motor, the transmission
into elements of 2 mm length in the directions of
loss of power, loss due to insufficient air leak and
r and x . The numbers of elements are N x = 30
cooling, and other mechanical loss.
and N r = 40 .
2. Heat System (
Wp,t = P0 U 0,t ln Pcp P0 ) cp (30)
The heat transfer coefficient h of the convective
heat transfer q con described by previous section Installation Requirements of the
was set at 10 W/m2K (natural convection). More- System and Demand Characteristic
over, hs of the radiation heat transfer q rad gives
The operation of the power and heat in the case
0.95 assuming a black body. The area Ahs on the
of introducing the FBSR into standard houses in
solar insolation acceptance surface of the reactor
Sapporo is planned. However, since a detailed
is 0.005 m2. The transmissivity of the heat exchange
report about the operation method of this power
wall of the reactor was set at 0.9, and the condens-
has already been published (Fresno, 2009), this
ing efficiency of the solar collector was set at
chapter focuses on examining the overall efficiency
90%.
of the system.
406
The power load and the heat consumption of a to a high catalyst temperature in the reactor. There-
house in Sapporo on a representative day in both fore, the temperature distribution of the catalyst
March (March 1) and August (August 23) are layer shown in Figure 14 differs so greatly that
shown in Figures 13 (a) and (b) (Narita, 1996). solar irradiance is large.
Because Sapporo is located in a cold district, there
is no cooling load in August. On the other hand, Composition of the Process Gas
the space heating load in March is supplied from
the exhaust heat of the system and the backup Figure 15 shows the analysis result of the process
boiler. As shown in Figure 13, the characteristics gas composition of the catalyst layer when input-
concerning the amount of solar radiation and out- ting constant solar insolation (250 W/m2 and 500
side air temperature (Surface-weather-observation W/m2) into the reactor (Fresno et al., 2009). This
1-minute data, 2008) will differ greatly in March figure shows the process gas composition along
and August. In this chapter, as observational data the x axis of the catalyst layer as predicted by
of the solar irradiance and the outside air tem- the analysis. This figure shows the composition
perature, Surface-Weather-Observation 1-Minute of each gas with its respective molar flow rate.
Data and 2007 Sapporo District Meteorological The molar flow rate of hydrogen is larger than
Observatory and Japan Meteorological Business other gases in the composition. Distribution of
Support Center (Surface-weather-observation the molar flow rate of hydrogen, and the time at
1-minute data, 2008) are used. The figure at the which the hydrogen flow rate becomes stable are
bottom of Figure 13 depicts daylight hours on each influenced by the magnitude of the solar irradi-
representative day. The amount of solar radiation, ance input into the reactor. If there is little solar
outside air temperature, and daylight hours are irradiance and there a short period of solar radia-
data collected at 1-minute intervals. tion fluctuation, the hydrogen generation rate may
not reach the maximum possible. From this result,
Results and Discussion when there is short-time fluctuation solar radiation
with little solar irradiance, the hydrogen generat-
Temperature Distribution ing rate may not reach a stable generation rate
of the Catalyst Layer (rated speed) by a response delay.
Figure 14 shows the result of the transient response Amount of Hydrogen Generated
characteristic of the catalyst layer temperature
when inputting constant solar insolation (250 W/ Figure 16 shows the analysis result of the amount
m2, 500 W/m2, 1000 W/m2) into the reactor (Fresno of hydrogen generated by the FBSR using the
2009). In Figure 14, 0 s is the stable time of the amount of solar radiation, outside air tempera-
acceptance surface temperature after inputting ture, and daylight hours shown in Figure 13. The
solar insolation into the reactor. When the outside hydrogen generating rate fluctuates a lot when
air temperature is 293 K, the acceptance surface comparing August 23 to March 1. As shown in
with solar irradiance of 250 W/m2 rises to about Figure 13, from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., the solar
500 K. In the input of 1000 W/m2, the acceptance insolation fluctuation on the representative day
surface rises to about 890 K. The conversion rate in March is stable compared to that in August.
of ethanol steam reforming increases, which leads The cause of this solar insolation fluctuation is a
407
Figure 13. Weather observation 1-minuite data in Sapporo
408
Figure 14. Temperature distribution in the catalyst layer of the reactor
Figure 15. Flow rate of process gas in the catalyst layer. Outside air temperature is 293 K.
shadow by clouds. As a result, in Figure 16, the Production of Electricity and Amount of
amount of hydrogen production on a representative Purchased Powers
morning in March will be stabilized compared
with that in August. As shown in Figure 14, the Figure 17 shows the analysis result of the produc-
rate of hydrogen generation may not be less than tion of electricity of the FBSR and the amount of
rated output in a weather condition with solar purchased powers. In this analysis, the power is
insolation fluctuation. purchased when the production of electricity of
409
Figure 16. Characteristics of the hydrogen flow rate of the FBSR
the FBSR is less than the power demand amount at 8:00 of both representative days (Figure 13) can
shown in Figure 13. As for the result of Figure 17, be decreased. However, in order to decrease the
the solar irradiance on the representative day of peak around 19:00, the increase in the compressed
each month and the characteristic of the outside air hydrogen by extension of solar collecting area is
temperature affect the purchase power. Moreover, required. Moreover, a time shift of the electric
when introducing solar collector A and solar col- power supply is required using hydrogen stor-
lector B with areas of 1.0 m2, the power load peak age equipment. When the amount of production
Figure 17. Analysis results of the power operation plan
410
of the reformed gas by solar collectors A and B Operation of the Exhaust Heat
is introduced into the power load pattern shown
in Figure 13, storage of the reformed gas is not Figures 18 and 19 show the analysis result of the
required. The electric power supply rate of the exhaust heat of the fuel cell, the CO oxidation
FBSR to a power demand amount is predicted to unit, the gas cooler, and the heat of the backup
be 21.4% and 25.3% on a representative day in boiler on representative days in March and August.
March and August, respectively. In terms of the solar insolation fluctuation from
Figure 18. Analysis results of the heat operation plan on March 1, 2007
411
Figure 19. Analysis results of the Heat Operation plan on August 23, 2007
6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., the exhaust heat power of Overall Efficiency
the morning in March is stable compared to that
in August. This is due to the difference in solar The conversion rates to the electric power are
insolation fluctuation on a representative day in 30.7% (March representative day) and 27.1%
each month shown in Figure 13. The heat supply (August representative day) every month among
rates of the FBSR to heat demand is predicted the solar irradiance obtained by the 1 m2 solar
to be 1.2% and 13.7% on the representative day collectors A and B on the representative days. On
in March and August (except for boiler power). the other hand, the conversion rates to heat supply
412
of solar irradiance are 16.7% (March representa- 2. The rate of converting sunlight into electri-
tive day) and 14.8% (August representative day). cal power in the proposed system is 30.7%
Therefore, the overall efficiency of the FBSR by and 27.1% on representative days in March
this operation case is 47.4% (March representative and August, respectively. On the other hand,
day) and 41.9% (August representative day). The the rate converted into heat is 16.7% and
difference in solar irradiance will be 1.32 times in 14.8%, respectively. As a result, the overall
August compared with that on the March repre- efficiency of the FBSR by the analysis
sentative day. However, the overall efficiency on case in this chapter is 47.4% and 41.9%,
the March representative day is larger than that in respectively. These results indicate that the
August. Therefore, the magnitude and the number proposed system is competitive with other
of occurrences of the solar insolation fluctuation energy systems, such as a photovoltaic cell.
strongly influence the overall efficiency. Table 2 However, operation of the FBSR takes the
is the analysis results of the FBSR performance. cost of the bioethanol.
Conclusions
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414
APPENDIX
Nomenclature
A : Area [m2]
C : Specific heat [J/(gK)]
D : Diameter [m]
Da : Modified Damkohler number
el : Catalyst layer element number
G : Mass flow rate [g/s]
g g : Molar flow rate [mol/s]
H : Reaction heat [J/mol]
h : Heat transfer coefficient [W/(m2hK)]
J : Calorific value [J/m3]
L : Length, width [m]
Me : Mass flow rate of ethanol [g/s]
M h : Mass flow rate of hydrogen [g/s]
N : Number of elements
N g : Number of gas composition
Nu : Nusselt number
P : Power [W]
P0 : Inlet pressure of the process gas [Pa]
Pcp : Outlet pressure of the process gas [Pa]
Pr : Prandtl number
Q : Quantity of heat [J]
q : Heat [W]
R : Radius [m]
r : Radial direction of the catalyst layer
Re : Reynolds number
T : Temperature [K]
t : Temperature difference [K]
U 0 : The volume flow rate of the process gas [m3/s]
u : Flow rate [m/s]
u 0 : Initial flow rate [m/s]
Wp : Work of the compressor [W]
x : Axial direction of the catalyst layer
415
Greek Symbols
r : Reaction rate [mol/(m3s)]

: Layer of the element
: Emissivity
: Efficiency
cp : Efficiency of the compressor
s : Efficiency of the reforming component
: Heat conductivity [W/(mK)]
: Density [g/m3]
: Kinetic viscosity [m2/s]
: Stefan-Boltzmann constant
: Conversion ratio
Subscripts
A , B : Solar collectors A and B

bl : Boiler
c : Catalyst
cf : CO oxidation unit to the cell stack
cl : Catalyst layer
cm : Customer
con : Convective heat transfer
cp : Commercial power
cs : Solar collector
dc : DC-DC converter
fc : Cell stack
g : Process gas
gc : The gas cooler to the heat storage tank
h : The higher heating value of hydrogen
hs : Heat supply surface of the reactor
it : DC-AC converter and inverter
ox : The CO oxidation unit
pv : Vaporizer pump
r : Reforming
rad : Radiation
rs : The reactor to the shift unit
s : Sunlight
sc : Gas cooler to the CO oxidation unit
st : Storage tank
sg : The gas cooler shift unit
tb : The fuel tank to the boiler
: Ambient air
416
417
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About the Author
Shinya Obara is a Professor at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Kitami
Institute of Hokaido University, Japan. He received B.S. in mechanical engineering from Nagaoka Uni-
versity of Technology, Japan in 1987, M.S. in mechanical system from Nagaoka University of Technol-
ogy, in 1989 and a Ph.D. in mechanical science from Hokkaido University in 2000, while he was work-
ing in companies and academic organizations. He worked as a researcher in the Department of
Mechanical Science of Hokkaido University from 2000-2001. Dr. Shinya Obara joined Tomakomai
National College of Technology in 2001 after an eight-year period in industry (as engineer and assistant
manager for research, in two different companies, namely Takasago Thermal Engineering Co., Ltd. and
Aisin AW Co., Ltd. in Japan). He was associate professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering
of Tomakomai National College between 2001-2007. Moreover, he was a professor of the Department
of Mechanical Engineering of Tomakomai National College in 2008 and Professor of the Department
of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Kitami Institute of Technology from 2008 to the present. His
research has been involved with power and heat energy and operation optimization analyses of energy
compound systems and energy efficiency, microgrid technology, and energy network system with renew-
able energy sources.
428
Index
A D
auxiliary machinery 18, 24, 56, 238, 241, 264-265, Diesel Engine 87-88, 90, 198-200, 204-206,
303, 376 217-222, 283, 321-322, 335-338, 346, 348
diesel-engine power 198, 204-205, 215-217, 219,
B 233
dioxide emissions 88, 167-169, 171-175, 178, 180,
Base Load 38-41, 43, 52, 73, 87-88, 90, 93, 97-99, 182-183, 185, 188, 191, 193
137, 140, 151, 155, 161-162, 164, 170, 175, distributed power 3, 39, 72, 189, 199, 216, 238, 399
177, 179-182, 187, 193, 238, 241-242, 245- Distributed Power Supply 3, 72, 189, 238, 399
246, 248, 353, 356, 358, 367, 369, 371, 373 Dynamic Characteristics 38-40, 43, 46-47, 52-53,
Bioethanol 282-283, 300-303, 309, 316, 354, 88, 94, 110, 118, 136-138, 140, 143, 146,
362-364, 385-388, 399-400, 413 150-151, 153, 155, 157, 159-160, 164, 167-
biomass engine 237-239, 248 168, 199, 216, 237-239, 242, 245, 247-250,
283
C Dynamic Operation Plan 283, 287, 295, 303, 306
carbon dioxide emissions 88, 167-169, 171-175,
178, 180, 182-183, 185, 188, 191, 193 E
city gas 3, 18, 20, 40-41, 45, 104, 118-123, 126, electrolysis 1-3, 5, 10-11, 15, 18, 21, 24-25, 29, 33,
128-130, 143, 156-157, 167-174, 180, 182-185, 103-104, 118-128, 130-131, 300
187-188, 237-239, 251, 254, 259, 262 Energy Conversion 353
Combined System 2, 237-238, 250-251, 254-255, energy cost 137, 152, 167-168, 198-200, 215, 238,
257-258, 261-262, 283, 322, 352-354, 356-357, 321, 335
359-360, 362, 364-371, 373-374, 376, 378-379, energy-demand model 199-200
381-382 Energy Network 1-4, 15, 18, 26-27, 33, 40, 103-104
combustion exhaust 237, 248 Energy Storage 3, 7, 10-11, 16-17, 104
comparative study 352, 354 Engine Generator 38-41, 43, 47, 49-50, 52, 198-202,
Compound Microgrid 167-168, 321-324, 326, 328, 204-207, 209-211, 213-215, 217-219, 221-227,
332-333 229, 231-233, 237-238, 251, 254, 321-322,
compound system 1-2, 13, 282, 322, 353 335-338, 343-348
control variables 38-39, 45, 53-54, 62, 64-65, 68, exchange membrane 2, 18, 21, 137, 155, 167-169,
143, 146 238, 322, 353, 367
cooperation management 72-73, 76
Index
F O
Fuel Cell Cogeneration 3, 5, 10, 15, 17, 53-54, Operational Planning 2-3, 9-13, 15-17, 118-119,
103-104, 167-168, 263-264, 324 123, 126, 128, 130
Operation Planning 1-2, 12, 284-285, 289, 293,
G 296-299, 301, 321-322, 324, 326, 329,
331-333, 354, 377-378
gas discharge 136-137, 140, 155, 180, 193, 397-398 Optimal Control 53, 64
gas engine 38, 40, 167-169, 171-172, 180, 183-184, Optimal Design 167, 181, 216
193, 283-284 Optimization 1-2, 13, 33, 118, 123, 181, 239, 283,
generation capacity 38, 40-41, 43, 52, 73, 81-82, 84, 287, 289, 303, 306, 321-324, 327, 329,
93, 96-99, 113-114, 140, 151, 154, 199-201, 333-334, 354
205, 217, 219, 221, 223, 225, 233, 265
Genetic Algorithm 1-2, 6, 13, 16, 26-27, 31, 104, P
118, 123, 126-127, 129, 199-200, 202-203,
282-283, 287, 289, 301, 316, 321-322, 333 partial load 3, 38, 40, 90, 103-104, 118-121, 131,
greenhouse gas 103, 136-137, 140, 155, 180, 193, 140, 151-152, 154-155, 167-169, 174, 181,
237-239, 250, 321, 397-399 193, 198-199, 216, 219, 225, 233, 348, 353,
357, 371
H Photovoltaics 321-323, 325, 328, 333-334, 352-353,
355
Heat Pump 1, 5-6, 10, 12-13, 15-18, 20, 22, 24-25, power generation efficiency 10, 39, 53-55, 61,
27, 175 63-64, 68, 72-73, 76, 82, 87-88, 90, 93-94,
Heat Transfer 18, 20, 27, 56, 201, 217, 245, 367, 96-100, 103-104, 113, 120-121, 143, 157, 162,
385-392, 399-400, 402-403, 406 167-168, 175, 178, 181-185, 187, 189,
Hydrogen Production 24, 87, 300-301, 356, 385- 198-201, 205, 207, 210-213, 216-217, 219,
387, 393-395, 399, 409 221, 223-224, 229, 233, 241, 324-326,
352-354, 357-358, 362-367, 369-373, 376,
K 379-382
kerosene diesel-engine 198, 200 power generators 155, 198-199, 215, 217, 233
power supply 3, 39, 41, 49-51, 53, 72, 75, 86, 97-98,
M 105, 109, 136-138, 140, 153-154, 156, 161-
162, 167-168, 177, 180, 189, 199, 216, 238,
meteorological data 272, 301, 322-323, 333, 243, 247, 250, 298, 302, 313, 335, 363, 365,
385-386, 413 368, 397, 399, 410-411
proportional action 38, 53, 56
N proton-exchange 38-39, 53, 73, 87, 90, 99, 104, 119,
neural network (NN) 282-283, 287-288, 300-301, 138, 152, 181, 193, 352-353
304-305, 314-316, 321-322, 335, 340-341, 386 proton exchange 2, 18, 137, 155, 167-169, 238, 322,
Numerical Weather Information 321-322, 330-333, 353, 367
354
429
Index
R T
reforming system 251, 265, 282-283, 300-302, 316, thermal storage 2-3, 5-7, 11-12, 15-17, 56, 60, 65,
385-387, 399-400, 413 75, 108, 120, 122, 128, 130-131, 254, 402
Renewable Energy 2-3, 5, 13, 15, 17, 136-138, 141, transient response 44, 53-54, 56-57, 59, 62, 64-65,
152, 154-155, 168, 216, 233, 282-284, 301, 138, 141, 242, 385, 387, 393, 400, 407
335, 398
representative days 10-11, 15-16, 27, 30-31, 43, 50, U
81-83, 96, 109, 113-114, 150, 187, 223-224,
272, 329, 332, 385-386, 393, 410-413 urban area 40, 72-73, 78, 80-82, 84, 86-87, 95-100,
103-105, 110, 112-114, 117, 140, 168-169,
S 175, 177, 180-181, 238, 300
shift utilization 352-353, 367, 373, 380-381 W

Simulation 65, 109, 143, 167, 238, 291, 296
Solar Radiation 282-283, 286-288, 292-294, weather data 282-284, 289, 291, 293, 296-300, 335,
298-299, 302-303, 307, 310, 312, 315-316, 393
323, 325-326, 335, 338-341, 343, 356, 362, Weather Prediction 386
385-386, 391, 393, 400, 403, 407 Wind Power Generation 136-138, 140-141, 146,
Solar Reforming 282, 300-303, 316, 385-388, 400 148-155, 157, 160-162, 167
solid-oxide fuel 352-353 woody biomass 237-239, 241, 248, 250-251, 254,
solid-oxide fuel cell 352-353 257-259, 262
Stirling cycle 237, 250-251
storage tank 5, 11-12, 15, 17-18, 20, 22, 24-25, 56,
60, 75, 88, 106, 108, 120, 122, 128, 168, 170,
182, 188-189, 191, 193, 198, 200-201, 215,
217, 239, 251, 254, 258, 265, 302, 304, 309,
312-313, 316, 322, 325-326, 328, 336-337,
354, 370, 376, 379, 382, 402
sustainable energy 282-283
430

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Optimum Design of

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Computational Intelligence in Remanufacturing

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Sustainable Technologies, Policies, and Constraints in the Green Economy

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Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 417

About the Contributors..................................................................................................................... 427

GENERAL INTRODUCTION the individual residence of Sapporo, Japan. From

optimal capacity of accumulation-of-electricity cooperative operation of complex energy devices,

Figure 1. Combined energy network system

Figure 2. Outline of the proposal system

it is supplied to the demand side. A thermal stor- Analysis

device Di , heat output H D ,t , amount of electric

Table 1. Energy device initial specifications

Figure 3. Chromosome model

electric power and thermal energy demand of at 3.0 .

electric energy supplied to the water electrolysis

representative day for each month is analyzed.

Objective Function and

erational planning to minimize costs requires an

electric power consumption of the heat pump (

and FS shows the calorific power of methanol

= ESystem ,t + E EL,t + E HP ,t +E H ,t  (7) 1. Analysis Method of System Operational

vices are expressed as a linear model and analyzed.

and thermal energy output characteristics of a fuel

amount of power generated in fine weather in

E EL,t ) and amount of electric power supplied

chromosome model is estimated from the amount

Figure 6. Quantity of energy storage

Figure 7. Fuel cell network system model (R1 type)

Figure 8. Fuel cell network system model (R2 type)

Figure 9. Single cell performance

Figure 10. Output characteristics of a fuel cell

Figure 11. Fuel cell operation

Figure 12. Arrangement plan of fuel cell units

Operating Method of the System

Figure 13. Characteristics of water electrolysis device

Figure 14. Heat energy network model

Figure 15. Outside aie temorerure

Figure 16. Chromosome model

Figure 17. Energy demand patterns

Figure 18. Demand patterns of total electric energy

Figure 19. Arrangements of buildings

Figure 20. Demand patterns of total heat energy

Figure 21. Results of electrode area

Figure 23. Hot water temperature of outlet piping of .buildings

Figure 24. Quantity of heat loss of piping between buildings

Figure 25. Waste heat of hot water supply

Figure 26. Quantity of heat loss of piping between buildings

C : Cost [US Dollar]

: Calorific power of fuel [J/g]

GENERAL INTRODUCTION cell microgrid, and the generation efficiency of the

Figure 1. Fuel cell microgrid system

Figure 2. System block diagram

Figure 3. Characteristics of transient response

Output Characteristics of Moreover, Figure (b) shows the characteristics of

Figure 6. Analysis results of step input for microgrid system

For electronic access to this publication, please contact: eresources@igi-global.com.

= ESystem ,t + E EL,t + E HP ,t +E H ,t (7) 1. Analysis Method of System Operational